AIC International representatives Laurence de la Brosse and Marie-Claude Dumont recently participated in the organization of The International Forum of NGOs in official partnership with UNESCO on Migrants, that took place in Tunis, Tunisia on September 26-27, 2018. The overall theme of the forum “Another Perspective on Migration” provided participants the opportunity to share practices and experiences, reflect on preventing the structural causes of migration, contribute to the theoretical debates in order to change views on global migration, examine the role of UNESCO and NGOs in the protection, reception and inclusion of migrants in order to create a common vision to better address the phenomenon of global migration, and to develop pilot projects and a guide of good practices

Global Migration has become part of societies’ daily life and portray emerging faces of a world in constant motion. Unfortunately, the deteriorating conditions surrounding the flow of migrants around the world today, and the alarming increase in their mortality rate, call for new perspective and actions to strengthen global solidarity and protect their fundamental rights, which is a moral duty and a development imperative.

Migration is one of the crucial elements of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Participants at the forum reiterated that more than 10 of the 17 Goals of the SDG have direct implications for migrants and refugees. The forum’s discussion underlined the huge contributions migrants make to Gross National Income of both host and home countries through payment of taxes, remittances, and cash transfers.

The diversity and enrichment of human life for development of societies has been possible through interaction of various cultures and social capacities. The forum discussed the need to encourage host communities and countries to increase recognition and integration of the social and professional capacities of migrants for sustainable development through the arts, basic trainings on leadership, and through short films to enable migrants share their experiences.

The participants discussed the relevance of NGOs to echo the contributions of migrants to human development at the United Nations, and to see that member States are encouraged to ratify these important convention frameworks on Migration. The forum found very critical and worthy of attention the positive contributive role women migrants have been playing in development in host country either in domestic works and professional fields.

Natalie Boone is the AIC NGO Representative to UN-NY