This shows that in 2024 an estimated 304 million people were migrants, or 3.7 percent of the world’s population. Children accounted for between 12 and 14 percent, or about 37 to 42 million.
Mr. Guterres told ambassadors that the report makes one truth unmistakably clear: “Migration is not a crisis. The crisis is the inability to deal with it together.”
Politicized and dehumanized
The Global Compact underlines that no country can manage migration alone, especially as the international community faces challenges such as climate change, demographic shifts or economic transformation.
Although ‘human mobility’ profoundly shapes the world, ‘the global response has too often been driven by fear, division and opportunism”, noted the Secretary General.
“On all continents, migrants are being instrumentalized to score political points – with devastating human consequences,” he said.
“They are dehumanized in public debate. And they are denied the rights and dignity that belong to every member of the human family – despite the enormous contributions migrants make to economies and societies.”
Safe routes are declining
This is happening at a time when safe and regular routes for migration – employment regulations and family reunification, for example – are becoming even more restrictive, pushing people to resort to smugglers and undertake dangerous journeys.
Since the adoption of the Compact, more than 48,000 migrants in transit have died or gone missing, said the report, which was released a day after the UN migration agency. IOMconfirmed that maritime routes such as the central Mediterranean are among the deadliest routes.
“It is a moral outrage that thousands of men, women and children die or go missing every year because there is no safe alternative”, said Mr Guterres.
Victims, not criminals
He emphasized that migrants are not criminals, but victims. The real criminals are the “ruthless smuggling and human trafficking networks” that “take advantage of desperation, exploit the absence of safe alternatives and thrive when cooperation fails” – and they must be prosecuted and brought to justice.
Meanwhile, many countries have taken important steps since the Pact’s adoption, including expanding regular pathways, strengthening labor mobility initiatives, improving search and rescue at sea, and supporting safer returns and reintegration.
Yet “progress is uneven – and far below what today’s reality requires.” Migration management must be “rights-based, gender-responsive and child-sensitive,” he said. It must also respect national sovereignty and be based on human dignity.
UN Women/Staton Winter
An Indonesian migrant volunteers at an organization in Singapore and helps other migrant workers. (file)
From progress to action
To be effective, countries must work together on two fronts, starting with expanding and simplifying clear pathways for regular migration.
The second – aimed at countries of origin – calls for ensuring development cooperation that invests in education, skills and the creation of decent jobs.
“We must now translate our vision into accelerated action for safe, orderly and regular migration,” the Secretary-General said.
This includes boosting cooperation to both save lives and strengthen communities, cracking down on smuggling and human trafficking networks, ending immigration detention of children, matching migrants’ skills to labor market needs, and “confronting toxic narratives with evidence, truth and humanity.”
A better ‘migration story’
That’s what the Secretary General said International Migration Review Forum in May should help countries take decisive, measurable action.
He emphasized that humane, cooperative migration management is not only possible, but essential for a stable, peaceful and prosperous world.
“Migration is a story as old as humanity: a story of courage, resilience and mutual benefits,” he said. “Our job is to make sure it never becomes a story of death and despair.”
He concluded by calling on countries to “make the Global Compact a reality – in every region, on every route, for every migrant.”
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