– As delivered –

Statement by H.E. Mrs. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly

Delivered by Ambassador Kwabena Osei-Danquah, Chef de Cabinet

26 February 2019

Thank you, Mr. Chairman

Excellencies,

Colleagues,

Friends,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Let me begin by acknowledging the presence of His Excellency the Vice Minister for Human Mobility of Ecuador, Santiago Javier Chavez Pareja, Chair of the GFMD.

I am honoured to deliver these remarks today on behalf of the President of the General Assembly, Her Excellency María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés.

Let me begin by thanking the Population Division of UN DESA for the invitation to open this symposium on international migration and development. It comes at an important juncture.

Tomorrow, I will convene a one-day High-Level Debate on international migration and development, as mandated by the General Assembly. The debate will inform this year’s High-Level Political Forum, which will review the various Sustainable Development Goals and targets relevant to migration, such as those on gender equality and decent work.

On Thursday, the International Organization for Migration will host its International Dialogue on youth and migration. Young people make up a significant proportion – 11 per cent in 2017 – of international migrants. Ensuring their voices are heard within these corridors should be a priority for us all.

This week’s events send a powerful signal that multilateral cooperation on migration is both essential and working.

Member States will take center stage at tomorrow’s High-Level Debate, and rightly so. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration reaffirms the sovereignty of states and puts them firmly in the driving seat, acknowledging that no country can address migration alone.

But in adopting the compact, states also stressed the importance of a whole-of-society approach. Today’s symposium is an excellent opportunity for experts from across the UN system, civil society, academia and governments to share ideas and strengthen partnerships.

Dear colleagues,

The 2030 Agenda recognizes that international migration and sustainable development are intertwined. Migrants already play a crucial role in achieving the SDGs. In 2017, they generated $466 billion in remittances – more than three times ODA for that year. In 2015, they contributed $6.7 trillion to global GDP.

Of course, migration poses challenges, also. Some of them are deadly – human trafficking, for instance. But gaps in data can also cost lives.

We must strengthen the global evidence base to ensure that migrants are not left behind.  And we must design policies based on this evidence that will help us all to reap the benefits of human mobility. Accurate data is essential to achieve this, especially at a time when the migration debate is so often driven by perception rather than facts.

Data is also vital to dispel false claims and stereotypes that fuel xenophobia and discrimination. We must do more to promote factual dialogue on migration at the local, national and international levels. Data alone is not enough, but it is a necessary first step.

And alongside facts and figures, we need courage to make the positive case for migration, for which there is an abundance of evidence, whilst being honest about the challenges it brings.

Excellencies, colleagues, friends

The success of the Global Compact on Migration rests on active, sustained engagement by all stakeholders. There is much work to do. I wish you every success.

Thank you.