By Tersoo Zamber
Throughout human history, migration has been a courageous expression of the individuals will to overcome adversity and to live a better life. Today, globalization, together with advances in communications and transportation, has greatly increased the number of people, who have the desire and the capacity to move to other places. On 4th December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly, taking into cognizance the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed 18 December International Migrants Day.
Migration draws increasing attention in the world today. Mixed with elements of emergency, and complexity, the challenges and difficulties of international migration require enhanced cooperation and collective action among countries and regions.
The United Nations is actively playing a catalyst role in this area, with the aim of creating more dialogues and interactions within countries and regions, as well as propelling exchange and collaboration opportunities. The day therefore seeks to raise awareness on the benefits of migration and the need to protect the rights of migrants.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his message for this years commemoration of the day aptly emphasizes that “all migrants are entitled to equal protection of all their human rights leaders and people everywhere to bring the Global Compact to life, so that migration works for all.
Again, in 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a set of commitments during its first ever summit on large movements of refugees and migrants to enhance the protection of refugees and migrants. These commitments are known as the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (NY Declaration).
The NY Declaration reaffirms the importance of the international protection regime and represents a commitment by Member States to strengthen and enhance mechanisms to protect people on the move. These are the global compact on refugees and the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. This process was concluded by the adoption of the Global Compact by the majority of UN Member States at an Intergovernmental Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco. The Global Compact is the first inter-governmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, covering all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner. It is a non-binding document that respects states sovereign right to determine who enters and stays in their territory and demonstrates commitment to international cooperation on migration.
It presents a significant opportunity to improve the governance of migration, to address the challenges associated with migration, and to strengthen the contribution of migrants and migration to sustainable development.
It must be noted that Nigeria too has keyed into this initiative. The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons in collaboration with other stakeholders yesterday this week held a National Migration Dialogue in an attempt to domesticate the compact in the country.
This is evident from the theme of the Dialogue which is Localizing the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration: Developing a National Implementation Action Plan. This is indeed, a step in the right direction in view of the significant contributions of migrants to their countries of origin, transit and destination.
Nigeria has comparative advantage in the migration sector as well to harness. This is because there are millions of Nigerian Migrants across the world impacting those societies. It must be noted that they also contribute significantly to the socio-economic development back home. The Migrant Resource Centres in Lagos, Benin and Abuja, and the National Diaspora Policy as well as efforts to save off the hook those trapped elsewhere, are all indicative of Nigerias willingness to harness the benefits of its migrants.
As the international Migrants Day is observed today, all stakeholders must step up the protection of Nigerian migrants, for national development.
