On 4 December 2000, the General Assembly, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed 18 December International Migrants Day (A/RES/55/93). On that day, in 1990, the Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (A/RES/45/158).
On 4 December 2000, the General Assembly, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed 18 December International Migrants Day (A/RES/55/93). On that day, in 1990, the Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (A/RES/45/158).
Office of the President of the General Assembly
Preparatory event for the 2013 High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development
The special session of the General Assembly will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 22 September 2014. In its resolution 65/234 on the follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development beyond 2014, the General Assembly decided to convene a special session in order to assess the status of implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and to renew political support for actions required for the full achievement of its goals and objectives.
This crisis calls for an urgent and comprehensive response from the international community based on respect for international refugee and human rights law, and on principles of solidarity and responsibility sharing.
The first-ever plenary session of the UN General Assembly on migration issues opens 14 September at the United Nations in New York, with a focus on ways to maximize the development benefits of migration and to reduce difficulties.
“We are only beginning to learn how to make migration work more consistently for development,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report prepared in anticipation of the meeting. “Each of us holds a piece of the migration puzzle, but none has the whole picture. It is time to start putting it together.”
In 2013, the number of international migrants worldwide reached 232 million. Migration can bring substantial benefits, but can also have negative consequences. Both developing and developed economies need migrants to meet the demand for workers with different levels of skills.
