International Migration Day: Migrants count

By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

Today December 18, marks International Migration Day (IMD). Instituted by the United Nations' (UN), it is to recognise the efforts, contributions and rights of migrants worldwide.
A report by  the Global Commission on International Migration (2005), estimated that the number of international migrants increased from 75 million to about 200 million in the past 30 years and migrants could be found in every part of the world. The report also found that the migration could accelerate due to the growing developmental, demographic and democratic disparities that existed between different world regions. Moreover, migration is driven by powerful economic, social and political forces that governments need to acknowledge as a reality.
On December 4, 2000, the UN General Assembly, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed December 18 as IMD. A decade earlier on that day, the assembly adopted the international convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families. Earlier celebrations of the day can be traced as far back as 1997 when some Asian migrant organisations marked December 18 as the day to recognise the rights, protection, and respect for migrants.
Each year, the UN invites governments, organisations and individuals to observe IMD by distributing information on the human rights and migrant’s fundamental freedoms. People are also invited to share their experiences and contribute to designing action plans to ensure their protection. Organisations actively involved in promoting the day include, Amnesty International, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the National Network for Immigrants and Refugee Rights.
For many people across the world, going away from their home town or region can be the best option or even the only to develop their standard of living. Migration can be an immensely contributing factor in improving the income, education and future prospects of children.But its value is somewhat even more: being able to opt where to stay as a key component of human freedom. Nurses, social workers, writers, political refugees, carpenters, construction workers, academics and computer professionals are all part of the around 1 billion people on their heels both within their native countries and abroad.
When people move out of their native country they embark on a journey of uncertainty, hope within or across the international fences. Most people migrate in the look out of better prospects, hoping to add to their own potential with infrastructures and resources in the destination nation. Local societies or regional organisations as a whole are also the beneficiaries both in native places and at destinations nations.
The multicultural background of these individuals and the policies that regulate their movement make human mobility one of the most perplexed issues that the world is facing today. IMD is celebrated with an objective to incorporate the key interest of migrants and their communities on the agenda, and highlight the threats they encounter and enjoy their achievements. The Day is envisioned initially as an opportunity to identify the contributions made by myriads of migrants to the flowing economies of their home and host nations, and to develop respect for their fundamental human rights.
Celebrating the day provides an opportunity to identify the contributions made by thousands of migrants to the progress and prosperity of number of nations around the world; to curb all kinds of violence and abuse faced by the migrants and their family members and advocate respect for their primary human rights; to request governments around the world to refine the UN Convention on Migrant Workers; to make the governments responsible for the fundamental rights of migrants.
According to the IOM, which is the world's largest agency dealing with migration, the evacuation of more than 200,000 migrant workers from Libya in 2011 focused world attention on the plight of tens of thousands of migrant workers, mainly from low-income, developing countries, who found themselves swept up by the political upheaval, without money, jobs, documentation or any means of getting home to their families.
The IOM observed that the marginal status in Libya and obvious vulnerability touched a chord with international donors who stepped in to help agencies including IOM and UNHCR to mount a massive repatriation operation. They included the World Bank, which funded a $10 million IOM airlift of 35,000 migrants to Bangladesh.
The crisis according to the IOM highlighted the fact that conflicts and man-made or natural disasters could impact already vulnerable migrants resulting in humanitarian crises. 
The evacuation of migrants from Libya was a remarkable humanitarian achievement but it was a job half done. While we recognised the reintegration needs of returning Bangladeshi and worked with the government and the World Bank to meet them, we failed to recognise the needs and well-being of other migrants who returned empty-handed to economically depressed and food insecure countries such as Chad and Niger, says IOM Director General, Mr  William Lacy Swing. 
“Crises can result in complex and often unpredictable short and long term population flows. These bring with them a raft of challenges that the international community needs to address comprehensively. They include the protection of vulnerable migrants from crisis-related violence and exploitation in their host country, and in transit, and their safe and sustainable reintegration once they get home,” he notes. 
The IOM’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework, which was officially endorsed by the Organisation’s governing Council on November 27, aims to institutionalise IOM’s capacity to respond to migration crises and to address some of the gaps that currently exist with regard to migration in international humanitarian systems.
It seeks to help states to fulfill their responsibility to assist and protect mobile populations, because migrants are more likely to be subject to hardship, human rights violations and discrimination in crisis situations. “Finding humane and effective solutions to the complex and multi-faceted challenges of crisis-related migration flows requires strong partnerships between international organisations, states and a variety of non-state actors, including NGOs, the media, the private sector, religious groups and transnational diaspora communities,” says Mr Swing.  “We all share a responsibility to protect the human rights of all people on the move,”  he added.
As the world celebrates IMD today, the IOM calls on the international community, and in particular migrant sending and receiving countries, to recognise the implications of crises for migrants and their families left behind and act to mitigate both the short and long term consequences.