On February 27, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, Under-Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, spoke at the High-Level Debate on International Migration taking place at United Nations Headquarters in New York during a panel dedicated to an “Overview on Progress in Achieving Migration Goals.”

In his remarks, Monsignor Camilleri said that the fact that migration is largely regular, the sign of a healthy economy and the bedrock of many modern nation States rarely makes the news. Migration, he said, certainly creates challenges but when well managed and the root causes of forced migration and internal displacement are addressed, it becomes voluntary and sustainable. The international community has committed itself to well-managed migration, he said, in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He noted that political and religious persecution, acts of violence and discrimination, extreme poverty, and environmental degradation are among the drivers of forced migration and the humanitarian emergencies, border insecurity and human trafficking that attend it. He called for concrete steps to promote integral human development and end poverty, ensure health, material and spiritual well-being, provide quality education, fight inequality and violence, ensure work, combat climate change and build more peaceful, inclusive, accountable and effective societies. The human dignity and rights of every migrant, regardless of status, must be respected, he said, something that requires concrete commitment, resources and coordination, in order to ensure proper welcome, promotion, protection and integration. The GCM, he said, like any living document, has room for improvement, but remains the most comprehensive set of best practices and policy instruments within the international system to ensure that international migration benefits all.

The statement can be found here.