Creator. Catholic social teaching thus makes us sensitive to the wider anthropological dimension. If we truly recognize every person's dignity we cannot force them to live in passivity and without their families. The genuine empowerment of migrants is a decisive step towards successful integration, empowerment, one of the key lines of our ideas. There is, however, more to the idea of participation and inclusion. What is essential is some sense of belonging, the consciousness of being part of a community. Perhaps it's better than the word integration. Integration is sometimes, you mentioned it, is a difficult world and you must explain, explain, explain, but the line is to be part of something, to be included, to belong to a community, to be part of it and to have the chance to become part of a community. That is very important. Both among the local population and among migrants a shared responsibility for the common good needs to involve. Such a joint commitment must go beyond the basic requirement of law abidance. It has to be driven by mutual recognition and mutual esteem. The host society can certainly expect migrants to respect its values and to appreciate its heritage, but this should not be a one-way road. Rather, members of the host society on their part ought to receive migrants with sincere appreciation. In a apostolic exhortation, Evangelii, Gaudium, Pope Francis characterizes such an attitude as a, I quote, a generous openness which, rather than fearing the loss of local identity, will prove capable of creating new forms of cultural synthesis. To this end, a mutual readiness to become acquainted with so far unknown perspectives, experiences and customs is necessary. Just like the success of integration processes is the fruit of two-sided efforts, there is also mutual momentum in the failure of integration. That is to say, in many cases, failed integration cannot solely be attributed to the lack of willingness on the side of migrants. Rather, the host society as well needs to ask itself whether it is making sufficient efforts to value foreigners, sometimes in spite of differences, sometimes because of them. To be sure such an attitude of generous openness must not be confused with naivete or relativism. The respect of the dignity of every human being, the right to life and physical integrity, the equality of men and women, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, these are some of the core values which are not up for negotiation but which are the very prerequisites for an inclusive society. Nor should generous openness be taken to imply the denial of one's own cultural and religious roots. When Europeans receive migrants from other parts of the world, there is no reason to understate the strong imprint which Christianity has had and still has on the identity of our continent, like in Bavaria. However, one needs to resist the tendency of turning positive identities into negative identities. Identity is not against another one. That is not the identity I prefer. Identity is open to receive also others. At times the recourse to human rights or to Christianity or to other elements constitutive of our societies is simply misused as an instrument of exclusion. That's not the way right identity can brought in. This happens when the values we rightfully cherish are not brought to life in an inviting and inspiring manner but are treated as rigid demarcation lines. This is us and that is you. And between us there is an insurmountable trench, a mountable trench. Such discourses of separation are typically the symptom of a deep uncertainty about one's own identity and belonging. Whenever tendencies of segregation occur, be they mantle or material, the church is called to be at the service of a difficult dialogue to quote from Pope Francis, he said. That is not the way we save our identity and make separations and being against others. The challenge we are facing is, as a matter of fact, integration in a wide-ranging sense. Participation and inclusion are of concern not only for newly arriving immigrants but also for citizens and long-time residents. In our European societies a significant number of people do not experience themselves as valued members of a community and do not feel empowered to contribute to the common good. It is against this background that the German bishops gave a clear assurance in their guidelines for the church commitment to refugees, I quote. The church defends the interests of all disadvantaged people because they said you are only looking on the refugees, what is about the others in our country and so on. Nor we said the church defends the interests of all disadvantaged people, the church's commitment to the many people who are marginalized within our societies to be continued with unreduced energy. The church's manifold activities in the field of migration must be regarded as part and parcel of a comprehensive commitment to the well-being of society. We have to oppose any tendencies of playing off one marginalized group against the other group to bring them against each other. That's one of the dangers. People in need should feel assured that the church is at their side regardless of the origin and background but the challenge is even more waxing. Those who feel threatened by migration and those who engage in a discourse of separation are not always necessarily necessarily the ones who have really been left behind. In some instances we can detect a worrying attitude among the established and well-to-do, an inclination to defend one's own cultural and economic privilege at the cost of nurturing prejudices against migrants and disparaging people in search of protection. I think it is no exaggeration to perceive in such a hardening of hearts the signs of an ethical and even spiritual draught. This language of exclusion has always in history been and is also today dangerous for a common future of our societies and this language of exclusion is back again in our societies. When sentiments of a shared humanity are lacking, the church must not remain silent. As Pope Francis reminds us, our Christian commitment is driven by a deeper spiritual motivation. I quote, Jesus Christ is always waiting to be recognized in migrants and refugees, in displaced persons and in exiles and through them he calls us to share our resources and occasionally to give up something of our quite riches. We live up to this call not only through words but also through concrete actions. The numerous Christians all over the world who are committed to the needs of migrants and refugees testify to a living culture of acceptance and solidarity. In Germany more than 100,000 Catholic volunteers and approximately 6,000 employees of the church and of Catholic organizations are active in this field. It's a large number and they're still there. They don't give up. The commitment of church initiatives and civil society's groups is not intended to replace government efforts but many times such grassroots activities succeed in something that cannot be mandated by law. They create spaces of encounter where people experience personal care and affection. One particularly interesting approach in this regard is the strengthening of practical inter-religious cooperation. Very difficult but we have to try it. We have to go forward in it. In 2016 the German Bishops Conference contributed to launching a nationwide program which fosters the cooperation of Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. The underlying idea is that members of local synagogues, church parishes and mosques join forces in giving aid to refugees and in promoting integration. Such models of cooperation face without a doubt challenges and difficulties but they are worth every effort. Experience teaches us that true solidarity requires empathy and empathy comes from encounter, from meeting, from seeing the other. Those who have never been forced to leave their homeland are called to see the world through the eyes of the other and such a change of perspective must not result in fatalism or indifference but has to give rise to a willingness to promote the inclusion of those on the margins. As Catholics we belong to a church of all languages and of all peoples. We are convinced that the definition of the common good of a given society may never be detached from the common good of the entire human family. You cannot have the common good for one society without looking on the common good of the family of human beings. In order to promote this objective even in ancient times international cooperation and international exchange are more necessary than ever before and in this sense we as Christians want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Thank you very much for your attention. Your evidence thank you so much. It is exactly what you said today that is on the base of our special event. We wanted to show not that much also to testify the positive experiences but also to show that the the resolute that we are resolute to continue on this this way. It is how to say what as you said church is in service of a big dialogue. This is exactly what we are doing here your your evidence in this very prestigious and very professional environment and very useful probably much more than in the media can be perceived. You said church defends the interests of all disadvantaged people who are disadvantaged. So the other thing is that we would like to show this we are by defending also promoting and standing behind the global compact we are exactly doing this. We are spotting many many brothers and sisters who are in absolutely impossibly difficult situation and we stay behind it. We are fighting language of exclusion. We are we would like to be example of living acceptance as you said through hundred and thousand volunteers in your country. It's a big country important country with many means also with a big Christian and big religious communities and big Catholic community as your address. And also we were very much what to say inspired also by this suggestion of having in the country of acceptance already beginning of interreligious dialogue that will bring new fruits and be prepared all those who are to say have to learn how to live in the new environment. Everybody has to learn how to live in new environment and probably the interreligious dialogue is one of those very important elements that we are a capable and we can offer in today's difficult moment in our societies. So your Eminence thank you so much. After this keynote speech we will have now a panel. Each panelist will have about seven minutes to present his or her speech which will then be followed by a short statement of some co-organized and post posturing state fully. So the first panelist is Mr. Eli Habib Nadir, Secretary General of Ministry Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in charge of Moroccan living abroad and migration affairs and co-chair of the Global Forum on Migration and Development. In this moment I would like to thank your Embassy here your Chauchat Afair who is so generously collaborating with us and helping us to have you with us because we wanted to have you exactly as another voice to give credit also to our voice as we are somehow complementary looking and we are part of the world that needs this complementarity and we appreciate very much your presence here so please you have the floor and we are looking forward to listen to you thank you. the government of migration in general and this question of integration in particular the integration of migrants and we leave this post here is beneficial both to the country of welcome to the country of origin and to the migrants themselves for the countries of welcome diversity creates wealth brings innovation allows companies to enlarge their market to have innovations and then a representative of italy had given a eloquent figure is that migration contributed in italy to the height of 8% of the growth of this country it is not negligible 3% of the international migration contributed to the height I think there are studies of the world bank which speaks of 10% so 3% of the population which contributed to 10% of the creation of wealth for the countries of origin you know so the migration benefits here in the transfer of the competences of the diaspora their return to invest in the countries but also the transfer of funds like something more concrete starting from this point for the migration and the integration is beneficial for all it is also the responsibility shared by all shared between the country of welcome country of origin and the migrants themselves I believe that the different parties must make their efforts to understand the other when I don't understand you when I don't understand your specificities I risk my trap on the look that I wear on you and on our way to live to live together so I think it's mutual efforts between these different parties that must be that must be done and on the part of the migrants he must understand his rights and his duties to live in a society that he has welcomed from there integration becomes a matter of all the components of society d'abord les états qui sont responsables de la création des conditions des opportunités pour d'abord l'accès aux services de base qui est un droit fondamental mais également de toutes les conditions qui permettent de libérer le potentiel des migrants un migrant est une force un migrant est une compétence est une ressource que le pays d'accueil doit entre guillemets exploiter c'est le rôle également des élus locaux parce que c'est là où se passent les actions sur le terrain c'est le rôle de la société civile d'accompagner par des actions de proximité c'est le rôle également des médias pour promouvoir un discours et non se focaliser sur la stigmatisation des migrants c'est le rôle des élus de faire des efforts pédagogiques pour expliquer et rassurer les populations qui sont dans le dans le désarroi et c'est le rôle des autorités religieuses qui ont un rôle central pour véhiculer un discours de la sagesse pour contrecarrer ce discours de haine de repli d'entités de xeno phobie etc c'est un discours les discours qu'on a aujourd'hui qui associe le migrant aux terroristes qui associe le migrant aux traficants de tout genre qui associe le migrant comme origine de tous les mots de des sociétés et difficultés qu'ils vivent donc ils ont ce rôle de dialogue entre entre religions et surtout de véhiculer ces discours de de la sagesse j'ai lu avec beaucoup d'intérêt les 20 points d'action sur les réfugiés les migrants élaborés par l'église catholique et je trouve qu'elles sont inspirées de valeurs d'accueil de protection de générosité qui font la force des sentiments religieux ça devrait inspirer d'autres parties à trouver les voies pour cette question donc de des gouvernances de la migration et d'intégration nous avons mené au maroc et là je vais parler du cas de maroc rapidement des consultations nationales sur le pact mondial juste pour faire un exercice pédagogique avec toutes les parties prenantes universitaires sociétés civiles migrants eux-mêmes et les recommandations qui sortaient de ces consultations nationales rejoignent donc beaucoup d'entre elles les 20 les 20 points d'action c'est pour dire qu'aujourd'hui il y a un consensus sur un certain nombre de principes notamment le principe de respect des droits des migrants en tant que personne humaine le maroc il y a quatre ans a lancé une politique migratoire face au flux de migrants qui traversait le maroc pour passer en europe et avec le durcissement des des des de la gestion des frontières européennes beaucoup ont choisi de de rester au maroc et donc à partir de là nous avons travaillé sur un vaste programme d'intégration qui a suivi d'abord deux opérations de régularisation régulariser un migrant c'est lui donner ce papier peut-être administratif mais il est très symbolique parce que c'est à partir de là qu'il peut chercher dignement un travail sans avoir toujours cette préoccupation d'être régulier ou pas donc régulariser toutes les femmes et tous les enfants et ça c'est un geste humanitaire de solidarité et puis l'accès aux services de base et là je vais m'arrêter à un service que je considère très important c'est l'éducation aujourd'hui si on n'ouvre pas l'école aux enfants des migrants nous allons ériter demain des jeunes mal édiqués ou sous édiqués peut-être exploité par d'autres si c'est pas l'état qui le fait d'autres le feront à notre place à leur manière et dans leur dans leur intérêt je crois que si on n'ouvre pas les écoles aux enfants de migrants quel que soit le statut migratoire un enfant et un enfant reste un enfant et n'est pas responsable de de sa migration légale ou illégale et l'apprentissage de la langue la langue locale si on veut de l'amixité et avoir une compréhension mutuelle il faut qu'on se parle la la la même langue au maroc nous avons ouvert les écoles mais nous avons également dispensé les enfants de cours d'éducation islamique obligatoire pour les enfants marocains ça c'est un geste peut-être anodin mais ça permet de mettre à l'aise l'autre c'est obligatoire pour les marocains mais pour un enfant de confessions autre que musulmane il n'a pas à suivre des cours et des examens qui nous avons aussi aidé les migrants à se constituer en association parce que intégrer les migrants c'est les écoutés c'est les associés c'est les associés au même à tout ce qu'on fait tout ce qu'on fait pour voilà je vais je vais avant avant de conclure c'était une anecdote de manière notre notre équipe nationale de football aujourd'hui elle est constituée en majorité de jeunes issus de parents qui ont émigré du maroc qu'il y a donc qui vivent en france en allemand etc le jour on aura une équipe nationale avec des enfants ici de l'immigration maroc je crois qu'on aura en partie réussi l'intégration l'intégration des migrants et c'est pas et c'est pas loin d'être d'être là de la réalité je vais conclure avec un message qui est le suivant je crois que nous sommes aujourd'hui en train d'abandonner les valeurs humaines de solidarité de partage de respect mutuel parce que nous avons cédé à ces discours populiste n de repli identitaire la migration est devenue aujourd'hui dans beaucoup de pays de grands pays qui devaient donner et montrer la voie aux autres elle est devenue un enjeu électorale c'est une régression et il est temps d'agir et de réagir nous sommes tous interpellés religieux élus les ciens sociétés civils organisation internationale média etc ensemble nous pourrons faire de la migration et le vieil de développement pour tous merci thank you rexcellency it is exactly i think what you said and what we are hearing today repeatedly we we are all growing in and getting more mature and more capable to understand think that is certainly how to say in itself a very in your news and it's a normal phenomenon but it's very very big phenomenon not easy to explain to the society i think that what we can do and what especially let's say from the part of our religious organization we have to do this work of presenting the real phase of migration how to say avoid everything that can intoxicate a real consideration a serious consideration historical philosophical and also theological and i think we are this is our duty and this is why we are so thankful to you that you came to show us with in other words the same reality the same challenge it will be necessary to educate to speak for years to come and to repeat it again and again as it is necessary to say good things once twice twice always every day so thank you so much for being with us and sharing with us really the efforts a very important efforts of your nation and also very big sensibility that you have personally in your specific responsibilities thank you so next panelist our next panelist will be ambassador stefan the board permanent representative canada to the wto in geneva he has an incredible interesting personal curriculum with i don't know whether i should read it but i would say for our for our event it is important to have somebody who had experience somehow in the business environment and diplomatic environment traveling many parts of the world also recently east in europe so ambassadors are so happy to be with us and and so it was your embassy that we contacted at the beginning we wanted to have you as one of the strong pillars together with german embassy and american embassy to start these conversations so thank you for being with us and we are listening to you thank you very much your eminence excellencies ladies and gentlemen permit me to set out for you and and talk a little bit about canada and canada's immigration experience canada is a country that is shaped by immigration immigrants have built canada's economy as well as shaped its social and cultural fabric and this issue in this story is of particular interest to me as the child of immigrants today one fifth of canada's population 21.9 percent were born outside of canada including my parents immigrants make up more than one fifth of the total labor force as a consequence of demographic shifts in the canadian population immigrants are expected to account for all net labor force growth within the next decade and for almost 80 percent of net population growth by 2030 looking to the future it is very clear that we will continue to rely on immigration and refugees to help build a dynamic society and a thriving economy in canada we believe that the diversity of our population is a great source of strength in fact we have studied this and found this to be the case and that diverse communities experience better social cohesion greater respect for human rights and notable civic and cultural benefits in generation after generation we have seen immigrants refugees and their descendants become tremendously productive members of our country and make meaningful and varied contributions to our society our economy our communities and our cultural life our own minister of immigration was a refugee himself who became highly educated as a lawyer contributing to the private sector and now in the political arena so what is our immigration model we practice what we call managed migration each year the federal government decides how many people will enter the country as permanent residents this approach balances economic social and humanitarian objectives canada has a strong commitment to its humanitarian goals by resettling refugees either as government assisted refugees privately sponsored refugees or blended visa office referred refugees many asylum seekers have also been successful refugee claimants that is refugees landed in canada in 2017 immigration levels plan maintains a strong commitment to protecting those in need with a target of 40 000 refugees well less than in 2016 this is double compared to historical levels in the last decade which was an average of 20 000 to 25 000 or 10 percent of total admissions the levels planning includes consultations with provinces and territories security partners and stakeholders other governments and the public this whole of society approach combined with an emphasis on protecting and consulting the public and growing the economy is one way that canada builds public confidence in its approach to immigration we believe that the successful integration of all immigrants including refugees provides our country with great opportunities and a competitive advantage to this end the federal government places a high priority on the effective settlement and integration of newcomers through inclusive laws and policies and investments in settlement and integration services the federal government helps to set an inclusive and enabling environment for successful immigrant integration the cornerstone of this approach is canada's model of immigrant immigration which is premised on social inclusion and mutual adaptation by newcomers and societal actors what we refer to as a two-way approach the federal government invests almost 350 sorry 650 million outside of kebek unsettlement services via more than 500 third party organizations across canada to permanent residents and protected persons including refugees in order to support their successful settlement and integration into canada employment related services are one of the five direct program components of the settlement program residing with the federal government other settlement programming includes information and orientation needs assessment and referrals language training and community connections the federal government also works with provinces and territories to coordinate efforts to improve the labor market access of immigrants including refugees including foreign credential recognition so they can apply their skills in the canadian marketplace provincial and territory governments are also key partners in ensuring immigrants and refugees have the basic supports to integration such as health education and social services labor market attachment is both a key indicator and an important contributor to newcomers successful integration to canada current employment related settlement services typically include one or a combination of the following services work placement including internships paid or unpaid practice firms and other direct work experience opportunities mentoring including speed mentoring or a traditional link with professionals in the client's field of expertise or interest preparation for licensure and certification services that are meant to help clients meet the licensing requirements in their field for the purposes of licensure networking opportunities structured activities and events that allow clients to be present in an environment with professional peers and potential employers to increase their professional networks this may include job fairs meet and greets and information nights and employment consulting counseling services a direct one-on-one counseling to clients on pathways to employment by international comparisons canada is at the top of oecd countries when considering immigrants economic outcomes recent evidence shows that immigrants in canada continue to have the most equitable outcomes in the labor market in terms of job quality unemployment rates and earnings immigrants also successfully contribute to canada's social cultural and political fabric immigrants have high rates of citizenship acquisition roughly 85 percent of those eligible to become citizens levels of political and civil civic engagement are comparable to the canadian born population immigrants feel a strong sense of belonging and satisfaction about life in canada and there's a high level of social trust in cities with growing ethnically diverse populations and immigrants have taken positions of political leadership and have thus shaped canada over time moving forward canada will continue to take a balanced approach to immigration integration it will reap the benefits of immigration through high levels of immigration and proactive supports to immigrant integration including upholding its humanitarian commitments while at the same time continue to take steps to maintain integrity and public confidence in its immigration system however canada cannot rest on its laurels there are challenges that remain to be addressed more and more newcomers arrive with complex settlement needs lower literacy know our little knowledge of english or french foreign credentials from different education systems which thus increases the pressure on settlement and other public services an evolving global context that gives rise to increasing numbers of displaced populations and vulnerable refugees will also challenge canada's capacity to respond an emerging threats to national security as a result of geopolitical dynamics can affect public confidence in canada's approach to immigration and multiculturalism and this will need to be managed and finally refugees who often arrive in canada with no knowledge of english and french continue to have low economic outcomes with average employment earnings significantly below the canadian average even 10 years after landing all of that to say there is more work to be done thank you very much for the opportunity to outline canada's approach thank you so much mr ambassador it is certainly good to have um how to say realistic presentation of the situation and what you said is from one side exactly the positive and beneficial effect of immigration and or the phenomena of people move but on the other side also the responsibility that this is not an easy task we all know from the experience in the past that it takes more than one generation to somehow settle down and organize itself we are now surprised by such a rapid and quick growth of migrants in the recent years and certainly we cannot pretend to have an easy and quick and answer that could be applied everywhere in the world but what we need is exactly what you said no to look positively and open-mindedly to the positive side and also not to forget that it is a process it is probably similar that any process of growing and educating that we went through we are as a human being we have to go through a difficult process of growing and becoming responsible citizens and I think also migration probably brings to our society a kind of the task that we have to take this seriously it is at least as difficult as educate as grow up children which are born in our probably it's more difficult so it means realistic approach certainly helps us and encourages us really to to maintain this vision our in future that is going to stay with us for many years to come in many decades to come it seems and that we have to be prepared and we have to give an answer from our experience for our teaching from our spiritual inspiration thank you so much so next speaker does not need any presentation Madame Carol Batchelor director of international protection department of united nations high commissioner of refugees you have the floor thank you very much archbishop your eminence fellow panelists ladies and gentlemen it's a pleasure to be with you here today when we talk about integration it's interesting to consider we heard words of inclusion of belonging of social cohesion and we hear about ethnicity and religion and language and culture and tolerance and acceptance across these lines I think it's also important to recall that not all persons on the move whether they're migrants or or refugees come with the same experiences we have people with different gender people of different ages and needs we have people with different degrees of vulnerabilities and certainly with extreme differences in what they have experienced that may have motivated them to be in situations of displacement or force them to be in situations of fleeing from persecution so I think it's important to remember this because in order to achieve integration we need not to look at people only from large the perspective of large blocks but also as individual human beings and I appreciate it very much your eminence your your comments so long that line I think it's also important to recall then that when we say some of the priorities include education lawful stay certainly for a refugee a number one priority is to be identified in the first place as somebody who is in need of international protection but the education and the job opportunities this will vary depending on the individuals that we're speaking about and it's important to identify those vulnerabilities and differences because by virtue of doing that we can design programs and support systems and mechanisms that really will facilitate integration and we've heard of success stories along this line well I want to make six specific observations and give you some examples we are talking about migrants today and I would like to also highlight the situation of refugees and you in hdr's experience in this regard we note firstly the principle of inclusion is central to integration and as a first step as I mentioned it requires that refugees are counted the work needed to achieve integration takes time and should start from the early stages of displacement nine out of the top ten refugee hosting countries are in the developing region when these countries have shouldered the responsibility over decades for what is a global issue many developing states already support the integration of refugees through making employment and social opportunities accessible to them and including refugees in development programs public planning administrative records and censuses and adopting legal and policy frameworks that facilitate equal enjoyment of rights and access to local systems and services some instructive examples include in latin america the cities of solidarity initiative launched with the aim of ensuring the enjoyment of the rights of refugees in urban settings through the design and implementation of inclusive public policies and programs a strengthened coordination of the different institutions and the promotion of livelihood projects also a good example in iran which of course has hosted a large number of afghan refugees these persons have been included into the national education and health services including the health care insurance scheme so these are the types of measures that support the fuller integration of refugees within the community secondly working with communities and understanding their priorities and perspectives and the challenges they face is crucial for any successful integration the most important partners in promoting integration of forcibly displaced persons are actually the displaced persons themselves along with the communities they live in thirdly promoting peaceful coexistence between displaced and local communities is one of UNHCR's global strategic priorities community-based approaches to protection provide opportunities for displaced and local communities to work together and to jointly identify concerns design and implement activities which respond to these concerns one example in brazil the municipality of saupolo and the national government have created a conducive environment for refugee settlement through open dialogue between different actors including government representatives international organizations civil society migrants and refugees who discuss migration issues and work together they actually develop together the migration and asylum policy and the national plan and this is aligned with national laws and implementation of plans within these municipalities a fourth observation integration requires the involvement of many actors in countries of displacement national and local governments as well as civil society play a key role in creating welcoming inclusive societies and supporting social cohesion and refugee integration within host communities we need to place local administrations at the center of coordination and action reinforce local governance actors and strengthen capacity on governance and rule of law as well as taking a comprehensive approach to development aid and expanding partnerships and collaboration for example with the private sector and certainly with faith-based organizations some examples here authorities in urban contexts in ecuador brazil and costa rica have promoted integration by enrolling refugees in health housing and social safety net programs in lebanon with financial support from the ec unhgr is working with local partners and the municipality to support improved access to water for over 200 000 syrians and for the locally lebanese population a fifth observation experiences from resettlement countries have also shown that private and community engagement have not only expanded protection and solutions for refugees but have contributed to foster public support for resettled refugees and welcoming communities an example and we've heard from the ambassador from canada illustration private and community-based sponsorships in canada and other countries and initiatives such as the global refugee sponsorship initiative have played a major role in supporting and hosting resettled refugees these experiences can yield further dividends in expanding the role of local communities and private sponsors in supporting refugee integration and finally it's important that we continue to learn from these initiatives and to take time as we are at today's event to reflect on the advances we are making towards furthering integration for refugees and for migrants and overcoming the most pressing challenges towards achieving sustainable solutions for refugees in a spirit of global solidarity international cooperation and more equitable responsibility sharing finally i'd like to just close with a question we talk about integration but we haven't really discussed in too much detail what we mean by integration into what exactly i would note that our communities our countries they're not in a situation of remaining the same and they shouldn't that's not healthy we need thriving economies thriving societies thriving communities we need not to be static we need stability but we cannot stay the same migrants as we've heard so eloquently from other panelists and from our keynote speaker migrants and refugees contribute to advancing all of us at the societal level at the country level regionally and internationally they represent an opportunity thank you thank you so much certainly your question at the end is somehow encouraging and also preoccupying encouraging certainly that we have to be and i think this is very very normal that when we are speaking let's say the dynamic the society in which we live always needs a new idea new inspiration new generosity we have to look around to find those people who are able to do that and ready to do that and often we cannot spot them about the people who are well established and well off living a good life let's say so so i think this is already from purely practical point of view educational point of view how to say to expect more dynamic approach more will to start to do to to try to to do something better and more for the people who are coming who went through enormously difficult period of suffering of of being treated improperly and so so probably this is the lesson we have to learn from your organization and the Holy See certainly stands very much behind the principles that you are promoting so we are coming continuing with a couple of statements that we we are going to have from the floor from the generous embassies and countries that work and institutions were co-sponsoring our event i would pass the words to ambassador of order on malta please you have the floor thank you excellency your eminence distinguished panelists their colleagues and friends one of the objectives of this event being to identify practical recommendations allow me to share with you some good practices that the order of malta has established in germany to improve the integration of refugees and migrants being responsible for more than 140 facilities with more than 44 thousand migrants and refugees the order has gained wide experience regarding this issue and has been playing an important role in the support of new arrivals during the peak of the immigration malta is a germany had about 5000 volunteers active an additional 2500 volunteers joined on a spontaneous basis volunteers as we know are a public expression with an impact on civil society they are a message against defeatism following the first phase of emergency assistance malta germany created integration services to make migrants familiar with the german society and culture such as religious tolerance the role of women the rule of law and the like these units also generated a platform for germans to meet individual migrants which in turn allowed for a totally different image of migration as opposed to fearing the influx of hundreds of thousands of foreigners in the field of health care the orders medical foundation malta is a migrant medicine provides free medical care for migrants refugees and others who cannot afford medical insurance in 18 cities across the country furthermore during the high influxes in 2016 special medical services targeted against diseases that are typical for migrants and were set up this field of activity that up to now has not been systematically developed may however need to be strengthened in the future some 40 special units for unaccompanied minors help children overcome the traumatic of life-threatening experiences during their journey of particular interest among examples of a practical approach to support refugees in host countries is the innovative model of pilots for integration looking for a long-term solution to help integrating refugees and migrants more easily into society malta is a has begun to employ and train so-called integration guides which run over 80 groups spread across germany with 30 to 50 volunteers and one employed coordinator per group integration guides support migrants and refugees in overcoming challenges of daily life in their new host country such as finding appropriate schools and child care learning german making purchases visiting doctors communicating with governmental authorities screening for job possibilities and simply being part of society such interaction enables a both sided exchange giving refugees and migrants the possibility of being heard by having personal and familial contacts thereby safeguarding their dignity and ensuring the participation of local communities it also enables them to learn by experience what open society means and to be part of it as illustrated clearly by his eminence earlier on furthermore this kind of support by the civil society is transferable to governmental or institutional implementation in an engagement of private and public partnerships several german local and regional authorities have already adopted this approach to overcome language barriers with foreign language speaking people I would like to conclude by referring to the now widely recognized special role of faith-based organizations and religious institutions in the protection integration of migrants in host countries as the director of protection has also just mentioned due to their local roots they can be providers of both material and spiritual assistance with its practical support the order of malta therefore aims to combine a spiritual dimension so as to foster resilience and understanding between the different communities such as by establishing a prayer room in every one of its facilities these are just a few examples of innovative actions that the order of malta has introduced within its worldwide humanitarian activities to support populations on the move and to alleviate their suffering thank you ecstasy thank you so much so I would give pass the word to another other co-organizer of this event the international catholic migration commission please you have the floor thank you very much good afternoon everyone you've been so patient to listen to these um to these panelists and so I um wonderful panelists with very interesting um thought-provoking things to say so I really appreciate the opportunity to be a part and um also cardinal marks thanks uh I'm just delighted to see you here um I used to live in work in munich and I know of your activities um with migrants so it's good to good to see you um speaking is um as part of icmc um today um but also I'd like to share with you a little bit about um some of my personal experience as um as a practitioner so we're going to see this from a practitioner's point of view um I uh about five years ago I moved to munich and um I was studying there at the lmu um and at the same time I started my own business in uh cultural integration for migrants called cultural integration solutions and so what I did is I provided direct assistance to migrants and to the organizations and local authorities and institutions that served them too and so a few of my clients were the bavarian department of labor and industry um the lmu and then caritas munchen and so um I'm going to focus on uh that client caritas uh so norma norma matere was the director of the migrations deans to the migration services unit and she and I worked together and as a consultant um she would refer migrants to me and I would accompany them um I would prepare them I would coach them I would accompany them and interpret for them um at german uh social service offices like um the job center or the um the department of housing and so uh what we would do then is when in in during those meetings um I would not only interpret but I would sort of facilitate a kind of I guess you might call it a negotiated agreement uh in terms of social services packages um and so uh the the language was german uh throughout these um uh meetings uh so anyway uh what I I'll I'll get to the point and what I found in my work is it's really that personal accompaniment um it's it's really that the migrants exposure to people to the systems in that country that seems to in my opinion and in my work accelerate the integration once they see what is expected of them once they see how they have made a mistake and how they can do better the next time it is it is um it's uh it was to me very clear um that that kind of personal accompaniment and that exposure uh increased integration so here's I'll give you a brief example so um Caritas referred Salvatore to me he was uh from Calabria and uh we uh he had an appointment at the job center and um so you know a couple of days before I prepare him I tell him what the documents are to bring um we go over the uh the address uh what time it is uh so here the day comes I'm sitting at the job center 15 minutes goes by Salvatore shows up 15 minutes late bad he shows up no documents what are you talking about he he comes dressed um you you know and not uh not looking very serious and I'm thinking this this is gonna get off to a bad start so um graciously though the German civil servant welcomes us into her office and then in like a span of two minutes she apprises the situation and uh firmly um tells us to basically get out of her office because we don't have um the documents we came late this is not how we you know this she can't work like this she wasn't rude but she was very clear so uh we walked out and um you know I think at that point Salvatore learned that something was going wrong and it's at that at that moment then that I came in as that coach explaining to him hey this is what went wrong this is what we need to do better you know learning learning learning learning so that um three weeks later when we met again with the the German social servant she was very gracious to give us a second appointment that doesn't always happen um she gave us um so the three weeks later um two days before that I call up Salvatore I tell him the documents I tell him what to do he at the day of the appointment he comes 15 minutes early he uh brings more than the documents necessary the man is wearing a suit you know he is ready to go bam he learned immediately what to do um and the the meeting went very smoothly uh he received the social services that uh we negotiated a a very suitable social service package for him and you'll never believe this um and it sounds so Pollyanna but it actually happened um at the at the end of the meeting the the German social servant uh explained how the first time she went to Italy you know what that was like how much she enjoyed it um and how um she really wants to go back again um but she just needs the vacation time to go back so she was talking about how much she just loved Italy so it was so neat to see that's kind of you know in the beginning you know that that image of you know get out of my office that can't work this way too oh my gosh I'm loving Italy I want to go back let's make this work so it was a very very interesting that you're talking about that integration process where the two parts are coming together I actually saw that so it was really really really good um so it's not just me you know I'm just one small little practitioner the Maltese certainly are doing this in Germany as well um but ICMC also uh does this um in Europe in cities in 27 countries through its share program um you've got organizations we've got our partners you've got local authorities working together side by side directly with refugees in that's integration process um it's also in ICMC's resettlement support centers working directly with refugees in the cultural orientation programs again helping refugees understand their new culture and what is expected of them and it's truly in my work what I've seen is that when when when the migrants understand clearly what is expected of them they in general um they general respond I mean not everyone but in my work I saw they very much very much responded um so I'm going to wrap it up because we've got to come to the end and what I'd like to say is um you know sometimes the best solutions are the most human ones this human accompaniment I'm talking about so the most human ones and uh migrants can teach us that so thank you thank you thank you other international catholic migration commission and admiration for all the work they do so we are continuing if anybody else any cosponsoring site would have something to say I see the Philippines Philippines afternoon uh I would like first by thanking our dear moderator his excellency archbishop Djokovic um let me express also our appreciation for the insightful remarks of the panelists indeed we must all encourage integration of migrants their inclusion in host societies as one of the most fundamental positive actions must be undertaken in the face of the rising tide of xenophobia and anti-migrant sentiments I say this confident that all of us in this room believe that migrants contribute positively to the economic development of their countries of origin and countries of destination furthermore migrants can also help enrich and diversify their host communities to the benefit of all this process should be welcomed as a positive development that would be greatly facilitated if host communities and their leaders would embrace the social and economic inclusion of migrants this is after all in matter in the most basic terms of mutual respect of migrants for their hosts and of hosts for their migrant neighbors I recall that social cohesion and inclusion are already affirmed in the new york declaration states have already committed to fully protect the safety dignity and human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants regardless of their migratory status as rights holders and in full respect for international human rights law and other relevant standards in that same declaration states strongly condemned acts and manifestations of racism racial discrimination xenophobia and related intolerance against migrants and the stereotypes often applied to them they also pledged combat with all the means of their disposal the abuses and exploitation suffered by migrants in vulnerable situations and address their special needs in accordance with obligations under the international law allow me also to note that it is my country's migrants experience that they become more productive in contributing to the economic development of their host communities when they and their families are socially integrated and are allowed access to economic resources particularly to financial resources if we want social inclusion and cohesion host societies must learn how to recognize and appreciate the overwhelming positive contribution of migrants host societies must value migrants at the same time migrants must take serious efforts to take advantage of opportunities provided for inclusion it is in this context that the gcm with the new york declaration as its baseline aspirations framework should be a document that advances in concrete terms social cohesion and economic inclusion of migrants and their families regardless of their migration status in host societies it is a truism that it is through social cohesion and economic inclusion that the human rights of migrants are best protected and fulfilled in closing allow me to submit some recommendations that my country believes should be included in the gcm first we should encourage the positive institutional role of local governments like cities provinces and subnational government units which can play critical roles in the economic and social inclusion of migrants and members of their families number two we should ensure that employment contracts are fair transparent and verifiable and are designed to promote decent work third we should establish and enhance mechanisms for mutual skills recognition and qualification frameworks between sending and hosting societies fourth we should implement the employer pays principle in the recruitment of migrant workers and finally fifth we should guarantee access of migrants to basic services such as education and health regardless of their status paying particular attention to those in vulnerable situations such as women and unaccompanied minors thank you for listening thank you mr ambassador we are really we're very living with very little little time so i see european union probably we will finish with the statement of european union unfortunately uh please european union thank you mr chair chair your eminence um excellencies i want to thank the distinguished panelists for their impetus and rich deliberations we thank the holy sea for hosting this side event which the eu is glad to co-sponsor we would like to re reaffirm the importance of integration and social economic inclusion of legally staying migrants clearly the cost of non-inclusion exceeds the cost of inclusion local authorities have an important role to play and require support in this regard it is important to ensure access to basic services with particular reference to access to education health care justice and language training we also need to pay particular attention to the application of legally staying migrant workers these pillars were flagged already by his eminence cardinal marx earlier the integration and social inclusion particularly requires substantial contributions of civil society diaspora led organizations the private sector media academia as well as social partners large movements of migration should be addressed from the needs-based perspective underpinned by a rights-based approach in compassing all human rights women and women leaders in migrant communities have a significant contribution to make we should ensure their full equal and meaningful participation in the development of local solutions and opportunities since 2016 the u has in place an action plan on integration of third country nationals this action plan assists migrant member states with concrete measures in five areas that are crucial for integration pre-departure measures education and training access to basic services labor market integration and vocational training also in December 2016 the council of the EU adopted conclusions on the integration of third country nationals legally residing in the EU the european integration network started its mutual learning activities in february several commission services are working to explore possibilities to publish more data on immigrant integration and the solid migration fund budget for integration for 2017 was increased by 150 million euros to conclude mr chair i just want to point out that integration is indeed as was mentioned by the panel a dynamic two-way process of mutual accommodation by all migrants and residents of member states it encompasses elements of participation interaction and cohesion by legally staying migrants and receiving societies thus it aims at facilitating equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms i thank you very much thank you so much opinion thank you for your cosponsoring our event it is certainly a very authoritative your voice and we are really thankful to you we have a little little bit time left so a little one minute to caritas internationalism one minute more at the end okay caritas one minute and then thank you uh he's a your resiliency yorkovich um just to add like one issue that you you discuss here that time and we as caritas internationalist total agree on that is that integration goes beyond participation and inclusion is the sense of being part of the community and on that matter i would like to share with you the new campaign launch globally speaking as caritas internationalists is called the share the journey campaign with two main objectives this campaign has been launched globally speaking in all the regions all over the world this campaign has two main objectives is to raise awareness of the culture of encounter that you also spoke about with a focus on the myths surrounding migration as well as the causes and efforts of forced migration and finally to mobilize communities to increase spaces and opportunities for migrants and communities to come together so i wanted to share with you this this campaign thank you miss um your excellency thank you so much so a lot of we have to go over work for africa association african the education for the development here represented by mr the president of the association but for please briefly thank you mr the president i think i don't know if you listen to me here mr mr the president i just saw that african is absent in this room it's for you to respond to the power i wanted to congratulate the senator of science after the united nation in june since the election of the french pope the Vatican has become a world center for the defense of the human rights of the oppressed the message of the french pope are clear and ambiguous the french pope they press with very concrete samples himself i think is considered as poor i am no longer someone important i am not important but allow me to make a small recommendation i would like that the next time that you organize an event like today i suggest that the victims also take the word we are tired of talking about our name we also have the possibility to say what is going on with us the migrants from africa the migrants from latin and asia must also have the word in this sense i also wanted to congratulate the german people with the good direction of angla merkel who was a courageous woman who had accepted despite the criticism of a party of her society the refugees in 2015 2016 and until today even if i should i should say to mrs merkel even if a party of the critical German society the entire world is the mirror for the courageous to be courageous and that it is a western country that holds the hands of man that holds the fundamental freedom mrs merkel does not say that but he acts we congratulate ourselves i also wanted to visit the government of canada so that canada has shown that his minister of integration comes from the retreat it was a retreat it was also a very concrete thing it is not a theory but also concerns the north africa that's what i wanted to talk about today the north africa it means that the marocan the tunisian the asian the libyan the exibitian they are a very ambiguous attitude on one side they defend the migrants who are in france in great britain in belgium in german and on the other side they oppress the migrants who come from east africa and oriental africa i wanted to talk about the racial discrimination in marocan the racial discrimination in asia the slavery in libyan which is a crime against humanity i hope that the international community as a crime against humanity will apply laws that we have since 1940 laws against humanity slavery in libyan i want to thank you mr president thank you so much it is certainly was very important to listen to you and to to listen also these words that could be that are probably not often or sufficiently left and presented to the public and general opinion i think we are very close to the end i would like to thank to everybody today present with us especially co-organizers cosponsoring state graciously kind with us a german ambassador and a fantastic dinner and a side event which we have with dinner it was a kind of a second version of side event thank you so much thank you to everybody who is participating today for you sharing with us the vision and i would give the support of final remarks to see seminars and thank you again for his present with us thank you thank you very much ladies and gentlemen for your participation for this debate also to hear the statements is a little bit of debate you have different points of views you see that this subject of migration of integration is is a large subject just the beginning i say sometimes it's not the end we are not planning the end of this problems we are perhaps beginning to to understand that is a large and a widespread problem for the next years and for this century we cannot influence all the catastrophes of the world and and the the wars and all the tensions who are on the base of of migration and and refugees but i think we have to to make more and these organizations like here in janeva and and and in new york and the united nations and all the other organizations and the catholic church they want to underline we will have no future when we are not able to see the common good of the of all people not only looking on our special problems but looking on the consequences for for for the whole for the for the whole of this planet the the pope is always speaking of one house of the creation i think that's the beginning when we are not able to look on the on the family of human beings that we are in solidarity together then we will not have solutions for our problems we have to think also of our own interests that's clear but not alone and that is for me very difficult to see that we are going back in some tendencies i can see going back to national interest to to the closer closer visions to look on on the on the own profits and not to to see that also in this policy of of migration and refugees we will only come forward when we see how can we create a situation that nearly the refugees the host societies and also the societies where you go where they go out they can be also winners of the situation a little bit to to see the advantages to to come together forward otherwise they that will be difficult but you see when i begin begin again with with these subjects that's very close to my heart also for the conference of bishops in germany we will we will help and we will be very active in this in this subject in germany and in europe and the catholic church is there in the very clear line with po francis to be on your side in all these questions thank you thank you everybody we just finished with the remark that panel ministerial immigration environment environment the climate change is starting at three o'clock thank you again distinguished delegates ladies and gentlemen thank you very much for coming back in large numbers and on time i'm particularly glad because this is one of the most important issues we're going to discuss in our four days together we just had a fascinating luncheon conversation with our panelists here and i certainly learned a lot and above all else i came away from our lunch today with a much greater sense of urgency than perhaps i've had or should have had in the past and i think you will hear from the distinguished esteemed minister from france and our colleagues the the ambassador of fiji here in geneva and mr key mrs keyama representing a major a major organization you will hear from them as experts why we should be concerned and why we should be doing more much more and even in iom which is just one of many players so let me i will keep my remarks very brief because we only have something less than an hour and you want to hear from these speakers not from me but i i just wanted to underline the urgency of this this continues to be a major area of iom's agenda we've been writing and reading and researching on the subject for about 20 years we got started a bit late but we're with it now and i i want to say that how much we need to try to integrate the thinking that you hear today into the global compact for migration because it's going to be a major driver of forced migration and irregular migration for some time to come i'm extremely sorry that the convention executive secretary mrs patricia espinoza could not join us today something came up at the very last minute and she's she's her statement will however be made available to all of you through our secretariat um so let me uh then say that let me just start by introducing the panel we're very honored to have back i think it's probably our second or third time to press the minister into service but we're extremely grateful to his ecstasy uh mr nicolas holo who is the minister in the new government uh of president mo uh mo crone for the ecological and inclusive transition of france great pleasure to introduce and have the honor to welcome you sir back to our council session over the past decade through the nicolas holo foundation the minister has lobbied for the and received the unanimous approval of the charter for the environment through the challenge of the earth he proposed an ecological pact to the french presidential election candidates and urged them to put environment and climate concerns at the very heart of public policy he also helped organize the what's called the grinnell de la vieur on iman there's a conference that brings together government local authorities uh trade unions business voluntary sectors to draw up practical green policies so we're also proud that in his former capacity as envoy of the president of the republic in preparation of the paris agreement uh his ecstasy minister holo endorsed our atlas of environmental migration which is a great honor for us um i also want to introduce on my left someone well known to you who are here in geneva her ecstasy mrs naja shamim kahn the ambassador and chief negotiator for the 23rd climate conference of parties cop 23 under the fiji presidency uh ambassador and permanent representative of fiji to the united nations here in geneva now ambassador kahn is um been with us for a while and now is going to be even more in view here in geneva as the chief negotiator for the cop 23 presidency she will oversee the formal negotiating process on behalf of the presidency of fiji among other highlights in her impressive professional career she holds the honor of being the first woman to be appointed a judge in fiji she served as a judge for a decade and later started her own consultancy and was appointed to her current ambassador or post by the prime minister in 2014 health how time flies excellent it's honor to have you in the 108th iom council session um i want to introduce also miss keiko kiyama uh co-president of japan emergency NGO acronym jen the executive director of japan platform japan uh she is uh been serving for refugees working with refugees internally displaced persons and survivors of natural disasters since she joined jen in 1994 uh two decades ago and from 94 to 2000 she worked as the regional representative of jen's program for former yugoslav countries where she and her teams supported self-reliance of refugees and idps through hundreds of projects in huge varieties of sectors miss kiyama it's an honor and pleasure to welcome you here today so let me uh first of all then make just a a few more comments namely that contemporary migration policy and practice is not possible to shape it in the way we did 10 years ago or even five years ago we can no longer afford to ignore the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on migration i gave you my one personal example when i first went to africa on my first diplomatic assignment in 1963 50 55 years ago uh we flew over lake chad i'd been asleep and i looked out and i thought we were over the ocean so big i came back in 1998 i guess it was as ambassador to nigeria i did a fly low fly slow trip over lake chad and permanent dwellings were being built in the bed of the lake is one example of what happens in a period of 25 years secondly is migration is inevitable it's necessary and it's even desirable if we manage it well and respect human rights including helping people to prepare for the impact of climate change on their lives through a positive adaptation to be used later with mitigation efforts and i do believe third point that the global compact that's going to be negotiated next year is a historical opportunity to make sure that global migration governance efforts take into account respond to and respect the importance of environmental and climate change drivers of migration so let me now having a welcome to our panelists let me start by once again giving the floor to his Excellency Mr Nicholas Hulot the minister of ecological and solidarity transition of france so you have the floor thank you i suggest uh you take your headset because my English is not very good and it will be more comfortable for everybody monsieur the direct dear director general thank you very much for having well welcomed in me here thank you very much for all of these warm introductory words that you have just addressed thank you very much and also dear executive secretary dear ambassadors dear vice chair your excellencies dear friends first of all i would like to thank you mister william lacy swing for your invitation i would also like to take this opportunity to underline the exceptional work that you have carried out at the helm of this organization this organization is absolutely fundamental this international organization for migration geologists have informed us very recently that we would have brutally gone from one geological area to another geological era they have informed us that we are now in the anthropocemic period which means that we have entered into the era of humanity without even knowing this which means that humanity has become its own factor its own determinant for our future and i am asking myself this question in front of you today whether we if this means that we are own factor of change is this good news or bad news this is the question that i'm asking myself because a french philosopher used to say that i deplored that the fate of humanity was in such bad hands as his and of course we must prove him wrong because personally i am very pleased that we still have our future in our hands it is still up to us to decide our destiny but everybody here understands that if we no longer control of this phenomena we will no longer be able to control our own fate and we will go into a very decisive era we will enter into this new era where the where there is going to be a degradation of all sorts of phenomena that we can observe now therefore i would say that that if there is a skill that we should take on as soon as possible at the beginning of this 21st century it is lucidity we really need to look at today's realities to face these realities straight eye to eye and i understand that these realities are sometimes very terrifying and very complex but we should not to discard them and put them to one side or forget about them because personally the one thing that i'm very afraid about is to let the future decide for us our destiny sometimes we put things to one side saying that we are too busy but this is extremely dangerous and i am just mentioning all this because the subject that you are dealing with here in this organization is one of these subjects there are a certain experts here around the room but often people dissimulate the severity of this these topics and issues that you deal with here at the IOM however this topic that we are dealing with today is absolutely essential we must carry out our duty which is the duty of humanity this topic of how to address migration and climate change in the global compact is not a future topic it is a topic that is currently affecting hundreds of thousands of men women and children around the world these are men women and children that are already living in situations of vulnerability and i have often mentioned this the climate change crisis is the excess injustice because it adds suffering to suffering and that it affects it mostly the most vulnerable populations already and you know this here of course already but many people outside of this august buddy do not know about this as you know a climate change of phenomenons or desertification natural disasters are already displacing twice as many people as conflicts and we know of all the tragic consequences of these displacements with your permission please allow me to reiterate here our devotion to human rights of all migrants regardless of their status we also commit ourselves to the reinforcement of absolutely necessary cooperation between countries of origin transit and destination let us never forget that most of environmental migration are invisible for people around the world it is neighboring countries of affected zones that have been affected by climate change are welcoming with very few means of the first displaced migrants because of a climate related event they are doing this out of humanity spontaneously but we also have this duty we have a duty of solidarity the linkages that exist between migration climate change and environmental degradation have been proven and at the same time are very complex they have been proven already there are territories that are close to the coastline where we can see digitification can be threatened in the long term and even in the short term extreme weather events which this morning we have been reminded about the WMO confirmed this morning that there are more and more extreme weather events and did they lead to displacements that are sometimes temporary but more and more definitive displacements climate change also affects in the long term entire swaths of territories that increase poverty and misery all migration of course are not because of a result of climate change often there are many different factors however everybody recognizes that climate change is one of the causes that one of the root causes for migratory flows and once again it adds injustice to injustice we have in fact entered a new climate era that forces us to look at reality to face reality and to not to not to give up but to find solutions this is why it is absolutely essential to take action the Paris agreement is the first response and is the most important one in this context I would like to commend the chairmanship of Fiji at to COP 23 the linkages between migration and climate change are also very complex on one hand climate change is not the only cause for migratory flows there's also the degradation of land and ecosystems however we can see men and women's impact here directly deforestation pollution overfishing irrigation systems and agriculture practices that are completely unsuitable this all contributes to problems linked to migration now what can we do to help fragile states that accumulate all sorts of different handicaps that are for example related to nature economic environmental and social handicaps what must be done we can not not deny another type of reality the first victims of global warming as I just mentioned are the poorest populations the most disadvantaged but also paradoxically the people that have less contributed to climate change and degradation and this is why I thought I've always thought that this was a major injustice because these men women and children are subjected to the consequences of a phenomenon that is itself the result of a mode of development that they have not benefited from and a phenomenon that they have not provoked and they are going to be the biggest victims of this and I am stating this here because history is never amnesiac and we always have to bear in mind these realities this is really the heart of climate justice which has been enshrined in the preamble of the Paris agreement we can take action in many different ways first of all climate issues must be integrated to all the work that is carried out in multilateral international organizations that have to do with human mobility challenges the development of the global compact for a safe orderly and regular migration which results from the declaration that was made in New York on the 19th of September 2016 represents an opportunity that we must take up thanks to its unique expertise the IOM is providing very precious support and here once again I would like to commend all of your work and efforts undertaken towards the development of this compact France will continue to participate actively especially in a few days time in Puerto Vallarta and then of course during the entire phase of negotiation France will contribute and will continue to reform the respect for human rights of all migrants regardless of their status we will also look at the need for reinforcement of cooperation between countries of origin transit and destination above and beyond this compact we must take this opportunity to highlight the linkages that exist between climate change and migration we also of course need to improve data and knowledge related to climate induced migration and find as quickly as possible sustainable concrete solutions for displaced people or at risk of being displaced this issue of the protection of these people is absolutely essential this is the raison d'être of the work of the platform on displacement linked to natural disasters which was an outcome of the Nansen initiative and which facilitated in 2015 the adoption of an agenda for the protection of displaced persons in the context of in natural disasters and climate change for all of these reasons France which has been a member of the steering committee has supported actively this this platform and has contributed to the projects of the IOM at the same time we need to work on the prediction of environmental changes to be able to help societies avoid the worst and take the best decisions resilience strengthening must be an absolutely essential a key of any public policy to ensure the stability of human communities the prevention of risks is also paramount there are many different efforts that have been undertaken in this area France has been carrying forward with other bilateral partners as you know but also with the WMO and the World Bank an initiative that I commend here which is the initiative cruise which aims at improving preparation preparedness and prevention for extreme climate events and once again I would like to highlight this a terrible example which is that recently when there was a series of hurricanes in the Caribbean when the entire world was observing on their screens this these tragic events in certain areas in Haiti some people were not even informed of the approach of these extreme weather events we must work upstream through the implementation of the Paris agreement of course but also by respecting the pledges that were made to benefit southern countries also the improvement of agricultural practices of the preservation of land and ecosystems and putting an end as well to deforestation and to and start reforestation concrete answers are necessary and this will allow us to decrease the pressure on natural resources especially in the most fragile areas we must also support the development of strategies that place ecosystems at the heart of development this presupposes everybody's mobilization for the very first time indeed in there is a in the implementation of the Rio convention a decision was adopted on the topic of migration during the last to COP 13 under divination which took place in China in Ordo last September we must therefore foster all synergies that exist between different organizations on this subject and continue to mobilize all of our energy to protect our planet and of course to protect our humanity now to conclude this is why the president of France Mr Emmanuel Macron decided to organize on the 12th of December in a few days a summit in Paris to be held in conjunction with the UN and the World Bank to be able to mobilize all all actors that are fighting against climate change but also to help find solutions for adaptation and mitigation France put forward at the General Assembly the United Nations in September a global compact for the environment which aims to align all the great principles of international environmental law this program as you can imagine is very extensive but the good news is that there is no fatality to all of these migratory floors that are more and more dramatic and tragic we have all the means at our disposal if we choose to use them and work together thank you very much for your attention I know that you would want me on your behalf and as well as myself to thank the minister for a very brilliant presentation of the urgency of the matter of something that has been too easy to ignore in recent times he's put us before the reality that among other things climate change is becoming is already one of the great drivers of forced migration he outlines several of the very what I would call cruel ironies number one is that its neighboring states or receiving states often have to carry much of the weight of the results of climate change secondly it exacerbates people who are poverty of people who are already in great need and then it affects the most vulnerable and often the most innocent who've done nothing to contribute to the climate change so I think it's very very very important for us to keep that all closely in mind that many of the of the of the priorities that we have now will have to be changed if we're going to succeed in this and I think he gave me a perfect transition to our next speaker by praising Fiji for its presidency of COP 23 so let me without further ado who have already introduced but ask our Excellency Ambassador Khan Madam you have the floor please thank you thank you very much indeed Director General and may I also commend the IOM for organizing this important high-level event it is an event which allows us to discuss the synergies between climate change the environment and migration this is a very very important subject indeed for us to focus on may I also congratulate Mr. Ullo his Excellency on the important conversation that he's just had with us about the relationship between climate change and climate justice and really at the crux of that is something that I would also like to talk about and this is the importance of putting people first in relation to any solutions that we have relating to climate change the environment and migration may I say in relation to persons who are displaced as a result of the environment as a result of climate change that it is very clear that when they are displaced that existing vulnerabilities become exacerbated and that when you move people from and we know this very well in the Pacific when you move people from the coastline where they're used to being fishing people into onto higher ground where they suddenly expected to be farming people that this already creates great disruption for their way of life and the way of life of the entire community and it also exposes those who are already vulnerable to acts for instance of harassment of violence and of lack of access to medical services for instance to further vulnerability so we are very aware particularly coming from the pacific of the very negative effects of climate change displacement if we are not careful to adopt approaches which we've heard would be could be well described as an approach of climate justice so this is a very good way to start may I say also that here in Geneva we have seen important initiatives which show that any attempt to deal with climate change and displacement and migration should be one that reflects coherence in the various agencies which deal with such displacement and we saw that very clearly in the adoption in the 35th session of the Human Rights Council of a resolution on human rights and climate change which recognized these linkages so the linkages between human rights and the number of other policy areas which included the effect of displacement on loss and damage on gender and on the rights of persons who are indigenous following on from that resolution we had the very useful intersessional panel which was organized on the 6th of October here in Geneva it was a very good first step to understand those linkages and also it provided an opportunity for an initial exchange of breast practices we are also looking forward to the OHCHR report next year on the gaps in human rights protections in the context of climate related migration and displacement it was very timely that this year Fiji shared the chairmanship of the oceans conference in New York which looked at the importance of oceans and the environment and was instrumental in fact for the call for action which was adopted by the parties in New York as a result of the oceans conference and that conference also drew very clear links between the oceans and people and sustainability and economic development something that is very very important especially for the pacific in addition to that of course Fiji had the presidency of COP 23 and really I want to take this opportunity to talk about some of the outcomes of COP 23 which had people at their center and as I've said before it is really important that when we look at the entire area the entire area and the entire subject of how we deal with climate change and the effect of climate change and society and on social institutions that we put people first so this was the first time that a small island developing state had the presidency of a COP and it was natural that we would as a result of that presidency want to see a people-centered COP and we've now begun to call COP 23 the people's COP because we saw a number of outcomes at COP 23 that reflected people and the wishes of people as well as the involvement of people because you simply cannot impose ideas on people it's very important that people participate in the processes of deciding that what is best for them and so quite unexpectedly this year at this COP we had a result on agriculture for those of you who are familiar with climate change and its processes you will know that it's taken some time to get there it's been a struggle but for the first time agriculture was recognized as one which required priority a work program called the coronavial work program named after our agricultural research station in Fiji was launched and a consensus was reached in agriculture which is not only going to look at the emissions of the agricultural industry but is also going to look at small farmers so important in countries which are developing small farmers and their role in reducing emissions so a very good result on agriculture the gender action plan it took 12 years of socialization for there to be a gender action plan and at last at COP 23 the gender action plan was launched which looks at the integration of women not only in national action plans and national strategies but in international climate change governance very important because sometimes when you look around the room at UNFCCC processes you wonder whether women have become an endangered species we had a result on long-term finance also unexpected we had the first ever open dialogue between states and observers we had and I'll pause here for a video for the first time we had a child opening the high level segment and really I mean for all of the extremely intelligent knowledgeable and well qualified people in the room including with respect president Macron this little boy really stole the show so if I can pause there just to show a short excerpt of Timothée's speech the high level segment at COP 2017 has really been the year underlining the relationship 2016 we were hit by one of the strongest cyclone ever struck Fiji the strongest in the southern hemisphere my home my school as as a food water money was totally destroyed my life was in chaos I asked myself why is it happening why is the cycling getting stronger what am I going to do I walked along one supplementation searching for what to take home for dinner fishing the river for fissure prawns walked amongst once a dense forest only to be filled with this pan frustration my once beautiful village I once called home is now a barren and empty wasteland months that follows summer temperatures continue rising production of soil moisture tending our land infertile tree is not bearing fruits and ages was seasoned water bodies getting dry each day feces streams prunes yields dead on lakes and river I feel the pain the remorse the angle the loss the terror the insecurity worthless and useless as I watched everything around me turning from green to yellow then brown a stress sign that we are dying that's indicated thank you very much indeed and that was Timor the talking at the high level segment as the very first speaker and I understand that he has been invited by President Macron to also speak at the Paris summit also an important outcome at COP 23 was a work program on education under the Paris agreement and a workshop on education is going to be held in May 2018 also launched at COP 23 the Suva expert panel on loss and damage to look at the sharing of best practices not only in relation to what's happened to all but also to discuss support for loss and damage the Fiji clearinghouse for risk transfer a recognition that insurance has an important role for dealing with loss and damage and five high level events aimed at coherence in relation to climate policy we have for the for the first time the recognition in a cop decision that the adaptation fund shall serve the Paris agreement and in addition to that considerable input into the adaptation fund by developed countries but of course COP 23 was intended fundamentally to move progress towards the Paris agreement work program and to introduce the design of the Talanoa dialogue what we could now call the Talanoa dialogue which was of course originally called the facilitative dialogue and it is in relation to the Talanoa dialogue that I have to say that there was a strong degree of support from observers as well as parties and that as a result of that support and as a result of the discussion around expectations for the Talanoa dialogue we will have a degree of observer input throughout 2018 in a process which is guided by the methodology of Talanoa a form of dialogue in the Pacific which is inclusive participatory and non-judgmental and the aim of the Talanoa dialogue is to enhance ambition in relation to the informing of the next round of NDCs so again a very important process we announced the design at COP 23 and of course the process of Talanoa will be unrolled during 2018 I do want to say in addition to the outcomes of COP 23 that the Pacific is going to see an unprecedented level of displacement in the coming years and that is because of rising sea levels Fiji has already offered its own land and its own country to some of the countries of the Pacific specifically Tuvalu and Kiribati but in order for us to ensure that that is a humane and dignified process it's very important that we adopt a regional solution to ensure that this is a process which is consensual which is dignified and as I've said before based on human rights and it is very important that Fiji whose constitution includes a right to a clean environment very important that in relation to any solution that we have for the Pacific that we have one that is inclusive and participatory and one that reflects the Pacific spirit of welcome and bullet and I'll stop there director general thank you madam ambassador as with the minister you've given us exactly what we had hoped for and I thank you for that I'm not going to make any effort now further to summarize because we're we're run out of time I have two more speakers and I know that the minister needs to leap promptly at four I want to make sure that get you out on time as much as we'd like to keep you and if we don't have time for a lot of statements or questions we will ask to share these statements written form later and some of the remarks you want to make on this could be even be included in the next session of the general debate so let me move immediately to the video that we have with Eric Solheim the head of the United Nations Environmental Program in Nairobi 2017 has really been the year underlining the relationship between natural catastrophes and environment on one side and migration and conflicts on the other side we had the horrible cyclones in the Caribbean as well as in the United States we have seen the drought in Somalia landslides in Sierra Leone and great flooding in Bangladesh and India so many people have been suffering from the enormous impact on natural catastrophes that's why we need to make the link between what we are doing in the international organization for migration and what we are doing in UN environment UN environment just one year ago joined the UN global migration group we are very encouraged by the open process you have put in place the inclusion of environment and climate issues in the broad thinking around migration and conflicts and the preparations for the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration which I hope we will be able to finalize in 2018 this work highlights the role of the environment in either creating stable and prosperous societies or driving migration and displacement just as it demonstrates the potential impact on the environment of failing to adapt to climate change or reduce the risk of disaster in the first place take the quarter of a million people in the Caribbean affected by the hurricanes Irma and Maria it was so devastating this year in Puerto Rico alone nearly 80,000 people were evacuated half the power grid remains offline and for vulnerable people like Jorge Lopez Ortiz in Puerto Rico that means being a virtual prisoner it's impossible for her to cook and too dangerous to go outside after dark her only lifeline is a rope passed through security bars to aid groups delivering food and water so the media headlines have gone but the problems have not these are the kind of far reaching consequences we need to remember then taking decisions on land use on energy on infrastructure and in so many other areas decision that we are looked into for decades what we decide to do in 2017 have implications for maybe 50 years to come and that have the potential to create either virtues or vicious cycles that's why so important that the work of the global company should be linked to the work to tackle climate change to protect the biodiversity to fight poverty health destruction to fight for equality security and decent work I very much hope this will be reflected in your discussions today and I really look forward to hearing the outcome let's work together to make the link between environment and migration so that we can serve the planet and its people thank you mr chairperson I'm honored and humbled to okay to this opportunity to give a presentation at this high level high level the comments I will be making today are based on my humanitarian background as mr chairperson have been have introduced I have been working in the field of humanitarian assistance for over 23 years out one of my early day missions was in the former Yugoslavia countries it was early 90s and I was we were serving for refugees and displaced persons what we learned there was the dignity and strength surely exist within those who seemingly vulnerable we also saw how easily one careless distribution of unified materials could take their dignity away and discourage them to take initiative of their own lives therefore we have been emphasizing the importance of supporting self-reliance from the very early stage of emergency many people have criticized the self-reliance is for the phase of development or at the earliest in the traditional phase however for example from our example experiences we also learned that the earlier the earlier they are involved the earlier they will be they will become self-reliant so there are four points I'd like to be to make sure that to make sure to be included in the global compact of safe orderly and the regular migration some of these may have already been thoroughly discussed but it is always better to emphasize important things repeatedly those are the first one is mainstreaming environment and climate change in promoting safe orderly and regular migration I'd like to express my deep appreciation to IOM's efforts on this disasters affect those who are vulnerable more severely thus it will require more resources for them to recover from the damage in such resources if such resources will be allocated for the vulnerable people before disasters hit them they might be able to become providers of assistance rather than recipients once disaster occurs second point is to tackle with root causes and prevention I also highly appreciate that IOM has been emphasizing the importance of peace and development it also aligns with one of the conclusions of the world humanitarian summit prevent and or end conflict each individual in disaster affected areas are no less capable of supporting themselves if such disaster did not occur it is extremely important for the damage damage of disasters to be minimized so that they will they will not be forced to migrate due to adverse drivers the third point is migrants and potential migrants are the first stakeholders tackling root causes requires local knowledge therefore it is totally natural for them to be included in not only implementation implementation of projects but also in all the processes including strategy making planning monitoring evaluation and researches since they are the owner of their own lives when they are included in all the phases the project will be more efficient and productive and the result will be to the point and sustainable sustainable because their background varies we must make make special efforts to include people with various backgrounds such as women minorities physically and mentally challenged needless to mention they are the owner of their problems as well as precious resources the fourth point is nexus beyond collaboration is the key for innovation all the stakeholders must come together and produce innovative solutions for fundamental issues currently humanitarian need is the largest since world war two in 2015 un was able to raise only 55 percent of funds against it appealed for humanitarian needs and unfortunately the number of people in need of is not decreasing insufficient fund may not affect quality but definitely the quantity of assistance that unfortunately increases the vulnerability of those who had been already vulnerable the ongoing way of humanitarian assistance will not be able to fulfill the objective of assistance assisting to satisfy basic human needs therefore you know the innovative solutions are in desperate needs the actors on the ground are also diversifying therefore closer closer tie amongst all the stakeholders need to be developed and innovation are eagerly sought for for closing i'd like to share our experience of the great eastern japan earthquake the earthquake hit large areas due to tsunami huge area was damaged many depopulated towns and villages were included those villages had already had various problems in relation to depopulation the tsunami even more expedited depopulation therefore it was obvious that even if they recovered all the material materials they lost they would not have been they would not have been able to rebuild the same lives they had without tackling without tackling the fundamental problems they had from before the earthquake and tsunami in other words the earthquake and tsunami forced them to face the existing problem problems innovation was desperately in need japan platform is a consortium of seven forty seven japanese NGOs where i served as a co-president from the time of the earthquake the majority of member NGOs of jpf was scattered through the earthquake tsunami affected area and worked with local communities we faced the same agenda innovation therefore starting from 2014 jpf held a humanitarian innovation forum involving various stakeholders including local people this undertaking had been adopted by asian disaster reduction and response network and now many innovation workshops are held in various parts of asia including earthquake affected Nepal without the innovation we are not able to serve for the need of various vulnerable people and i believe that we can make innovation together thank you as with the other speakers i wish to thank miss kiyama most sincerely for very good presentation giving some idea more from a practical level of what what it's like on the ground where we do work on climate change matters i'm afraid that we have about two minutes left i'm not sure that's time enough for ten minutes okay okay good all right did i have a series of speakers here i have the speakers have asked to speak madagascar costa rica germany and the european union with others perhaps to follow but let's start with madagascar you have the floor afini mom thank you very much chairman first of all i'd like to thank you for the organization of this panel i'd also like to thank the panelists for their excellent presentations mr director general looking at the factors and the root causes for migration in the context of the new york declaration of 19 september 2017 the members have looked at all the notions that gave rise to forced displacement and irregular migration they looked at the multifaceted nature of causes mentioned and their complex interdependence with the example of combating extreme poverty climate environmental factors basically the objective of the global compact is to come up with solutions at a global level by adopting integrated approaches of commitments which would be feasible one of the proposals made it to in it to this regard was to establish partnerships in a global context of shared responsibility taking account of flexibility and adaptability that we'd like to insert into this global compact and i would like to ask the following question and i'm asking it of the three panelists what are the areas and the types of cooperation which we consider which you consider decisive to reconcile climate change adaptation and mitigation while including the cross cutting issues of sustainable development and economic growth in other words the solution should it take account the fundamental aspects inherent to the social cultural and economic aspects thank you very much thank you uh Costa Rica thank you very much director general and thank you very much to the panelists for the interesting talks they gave today the minister certainly talked about something which today seems a fact which is the importance of the environment and their global agenda and this is a major game but it has been a fairly difficult combat for many countries in this global agenda and i'd like to refer to this because although he was referring to certain dates or deadlines i recall that in the 62nd united nation general assembly where this was in 2007 the chancellor costense said at that time that we could not we could not say better late than never at that time the general assembly had decided that the central issue was climate change but 20 years before in 1987 president mamun abdul gayun of the republic of maldives had come to the general assembly to warn us all that he was not going to talk about policies but rather he was coming to talk about the death of a nation and this because from his standpoint and his appeal for help he said his nation whose 1900 some 1900 islands were going to be submerged by the sea level rise 30 years ago we had that warning that presentation from the president of the republic of maldives and finally today we're taking action and moving forward certainly the global compact for safe regular and orderly migration is a unique opportunity for us to be able to have this link between migration human rights and climate change and i could say that it's a virtuous cycle because it has these three elements but at the same time they move or gravitate around the sustainable development goals and i think the global compact is a major opportunity for us to assert this extremely strong and solid link and in addition it will be with a perspective of sustainability this was very well said by the representative of madis gasker he was talking about problems of economic development for countries who are developing how can we look at climate change migration and human rights if this is going to prevent our development but it shouldn't be seen as a perspective of sustainability in facing this problem of human mobility i simply also wanted like to stress certain initiatives that are also been created in parallel frameworks and all of these have to be linked up and i'm thinking of the geneva pledge which is an appeal for negotiators on climate change to sit down with the human rights negotiators and to have an exchange and i think this would be a possibility including people from the migrant population to have a holistic approach thank you very much mr director jan many you have the floor thank you director general for giving me the floor i asked for it because germany is the current chair of the platform for of disaster displacement and i will keep it very short in order you can take maybe another speaker we of course are we find it essential that the gcm addresses human mobility in the context of disaster and in the adverse effects of climate change goes without saying and we have elaborated key messages valuable key messages as we think how this can be integrated in the gcm text and you can find them on the ppd website which is disaster displacement.org so thank you thank you very much european union thank you director general um honorable minister excellencies thanks for the rich panel and for putting this important issue of climate change on the agenda of today's meeting and of the gcm i'll try to cut myself my comments short in the interest of time um i speak on behalf of the european union and its member states climate change is creating complex humanitarian and development challenges it has devastating effects on people communities and their livelihoods according to the icmc 24 million new displacements by disaster happened in 2016 many more are displaced by less spectacular but more permanent slow onset impacts of climate change like sea level rise or desertification better evidence is needed here for us to understand how many idp's cross borders and become migrants or refugees and why left unchecked climate change can become a leading driver of migration and forced displacement worldwide migration and disaster displacement in the context of climate change is not primarily a cross border problem thousands of internally displaced persons also need protection assistance following disasters and the adverse effects of climate change the u shares it as our sees it as our shared global responsibility to tackle climate change and climate induced displacement our global strategy approaches the nexus between climate migration and security in a joined up way from prevention to managing the impacts this global strategy also emphasizes the role of building resilience to promote security effective and timely adaptation work also helps us address underlying causes of forced displacement it can prevent minimize and respond to disruptive impacts this is why the u is engaged right now with the most vulnerable countries to increase their resilience with the 2.9 billion euro u emergency trust fund for africa which which was created to address the root causes of instability forced displacement to stem irregular migration and to contribute to better migration management we in the u decided to work in unison and to join forces with the private sector this joining of forces finds the latest manifestation in our external investment plan to help boost investment growth and decent job creation in partner countries the u will provide 3.35 billion euros with the aim of mobilizing up to 44 billion euros in investments to help create opportunities and tackle the root causes of forced displacement finally mr chair the u's member of the steering group of the platform on disaster displacement and supports the implementation of the protection agenda resulting from the nuns initiative in close cooperation with iom i thank you very much thank you very much in the interest of keeping the minister on schedule i'll stop the questions here uh i hope you'll submit statements and uh in the respect of the other delegates that perhaps let the minister respond first if you have anything thank you very much mr. advocate general i apologize for not uh being able to stay here for longer but i will give you more time in the next a few days months and years to come because the subject is so important to me and i would like to say to the representative of costa rica that uh i am outraged i am very surprised and frightened that it has taken us 30 years to understand the reality in front of us if we take another 30 years to go from this uh this reality to the implementation of our objectives if there is really a 30 year gap i don't know if a humanity will should keep the word the term humanity i want to be an optimist of course but we are going to have to change how we do things money will not to do everything but money will facilitate a lot of things we can't ignore that in 2008 when there was the financial crisis we showed so such creativity to be able to save the banking sector and without being demagogic here it did not take eternity to avoid a collective bankruptcy and i have to say that i hope that we will be able to have the same amount of creativity to help our fellow citizens and to help humanity as a whole now to respond to metagascar's question we must say we must and for the future and this is really the purpose of the event that we will be organizing in france but i'm saying this very cautiously of course because i can't presuppose of state's intentions but of course we will have to completely put on an equal footing attenuation and mitigation because of up until now the phenomenon that we have been seeing and this has shown us already that climate change is already underway this is a true tragedy for hundreds of thousands of people around the world and i uh remembered that the number two million was mentioned earlier i think there are a certain number of priorities that should have an influence of course on donors activities especially when it comes to the most vulnerable of populations we must allow them to protect or rehabilitate restore their ecosystem especially arable land i completely agree with the analysis of monique barbu who is the executive secretary of the un convention to combat their certification if we undertake a worldwide movement to allow certain countries and here i'm thinking about african states and more particularly the sahel region if we pledge all of these different means to rehabilitate to desertified land and we know how to do this thanks to agroecology this would allow us three things first of all avoid people leaving their territories secondly for people to come back to their land and thirdly it would make sure that this land was arable once again and therefore they would be able to fight against climate change because these people would then be able to stock carbon dioxide and of course participate to mitigating the migratory phenomenon that we have been observing here i also believe that we must do everything at our disposal because the technologies are available we need to render them economically accessible to all of these countries for renewable energies to become a an accessible common good common public good for all of humanity so this is just what i wanted to say very briefly once again france will of course be at your side mr. director general and we will be an an tireless ally thank you very much for your attention i would like to also thank the other panelists for this event i am i have been discovered since i became minister that the formula agenda for a minister was not just a legend and indeed i am very very busy and very booked up thank you very much thank you good afternoon i would like to invite the council to go back to item 11 on our agenda general debate and i will come back to the list of speakers that we had started with this morning and i would now like to give the floor to mrs. simongile rebushe counselor for south africa you have the floor thank you madam chi madam chi south africa aligns itself with the statement delivered by garner on behalf of the africa group allow me to congratulate you madam chair and members of your bureau for having been elected to lead the council to the next session my delegation also congratulates the newest members of the iom the republic of cuba cook islands and all new observer organizations madam chair my delegation also wishes to thank the director general on the report presented to member states we acknowledge the support iom has provided during the consultation phase of the compact including the six thematic areas regional consultations and saddock and engagement with several society in addition iom over the last 66 years has grown and is now a stronger and responsive organization that serves and assists vulnerable migrants around the world and in 2016 became the newest member of the united nations system at the same time also the historical new york declaration was adopted by world leaders with the aim of improving international cooperation and governance of migration madam chi this meeting takes place amid the shocking and barbaric acts of modern slavery day slavery as and we call on libian authorities to investigate and we commend the iom for its swift response trafficking in human beings and modern forms of slavery is a reality for migrants and these extreme forms of human exploitation in the migration process require counteraction madam chair the global compact will negotiate should be inclusive with a focus on whole of society approach in promoting development through migration we need to be practical in the negotiations and focus on concrete actionable areas on which states can reach consensus sub-africa has made significant strides towards the realization of the objectives of the global compact for migrants through firm recognition of the positive role played by migrants in the country's national development plan vision 2030 that embraces migration for development and the white paper on international migration our international migration policy balances the prime the primary objectives of economic development national security international and constitutional obligations as well as the vision articulated in the freedom charter that we should as a country seek to live in peace and friendship with our neighbors we strongly believe that for us a regional approach to issues of migration will deliver a better deal for ourselves and the continent push factors of illegal migration are best addressed in regional cooperation and africa as a whole and our engagement should be understood in this context of collaboration with our static neighbors sub-africa has embarked on a special dispensation for regularizing the state of migrants from the region as a means of managing the flow of migrants the objectives of the special dispensation is to properly document and regularize the state of national from static in south africa for work study and business the special dispensation has benefits including relieving the pressure on the asylum seeker management process provide amnesty to those who receive south african documents fraudulently regularize those staying in south africa undocumented and suspend deportation for those residing in south africa undocumented by allowing them to apply for the special dispensation for south africa the global compact for migrants should develop operational instrument for fair and effective migration governance with mutual understanding and international cooperation is critical it should be inspired by the 2030 agenda for inclusive growth sustainable development and balance security concerns and development the root causes of regular migration that many many first themselves through underdevelopment conflict poverty and unemployment need to be addressed in a comprehensive holistic manner the global compact needs to take into account the level of development of countries particularly those in the developing world who confront immense pressure to their economic and social fabric when addressing the issues of burdens sharing madam chair we also need to acknowledge that each state will have its own emphasis on the global compact for migrants however focusing on convergence will be critical accordingly a concerted global effort to protect the human rights of all migrants regardless of their migratory status should be the focus of member states and in particular the protection of unaccompanied minor children women and the disabled any commitments towards the global compact that are not accompanied by concrete interventions and resource mobilization to relieve pressure from the developing countries by developed nations are unlikely to lead the international community to any realization of these otherwise noble ideas in conclusion south africa will within international obligations support all initiatives contributing to a well managed migration and international cooperation as we move towards negotiating the global compact for migrants thank you thank you very much thank you very much i would now like to give the floor to mr juan carlos moreno second secretary of columbia you have the floor sir thank you very much columbia affiliates itself with the statement of crulac we would like to congratulate you on your election as a chairwoman and we would also like to welcome cuba and the cook islands as new members of the council the iom has worked in columbia for more than 60 years and its support has been absolutely fundamental to draft to develop and implement public policies pertaining to human mobility based on this context in 2015 the government of columbia and the iom had lent its support to the indicative plan of work for the period 2015-2019 which is in line with our national priorities especially with the national plan of development and contributed the implementation of the un development assistant framework you undefined 2015-2019 this is proof of a growing relationship between the iom and the un system in the field in this regard we would like to commend and urge the increased cooperation of interagency work particularly with unhcr this indicative plan of work of 2015-2019 is structured around three strategic objectives number one to strengthen capacity buildings of the state to be able to to foster orderly migration at the territorial national regional international level with an approach of sustainable development secondly to contribute to emergency responses and the management of risks with a territorial dimension number three to facilitate processes for peace building initiatives in july 2017 the iom and the national government carried out a joint evaluation on the implementation of this indicative indicative plan there were five aspects that resulted from this assessment now first of all there was institutional strengthening of state capacities to be able to manage migratory flows with an integrated approach number two design and transfer of methodologies of tools and models in order to promote development as well as the increase of activities carried out by the state to improve migrants conditions third build on knowledge that already exists and to increase knowledge on migratory topics and to develop policies and projects which would benefit to the migratory population number four consolidation of coordination in transitional spaces of coordination and coordinate better between all the different actors involved at the national territory level number five differentiated attention that is really focused on ethnicity is a gender and the life cycle now these uh these are amongst others the operational strengths that the iom can lend to support the development and the implementation of the global compact likewise we would like to underscore and extend our gratitude to the iom on an essential topic for our country we are really in the uh facing a historical moment which was the peace agreements with FARC the support of the iom in this area has been absolutely key especially for the rest of the region of victims of rights in a transitional framework of the judiciary at the moment as well as the reintegration of former combatants dear madam chair and dear mr. director general the government of colombia would like to highlight the role of leadership that mr. ambassador william lacy swing has had since 2008 at the helm of the iom you have been a wonderful director general as well as a very insightful interlocutor and may you receive mr william lacy swing our deepest appreciation for your exceptional work thank you yes thank you very much i now give the floor to mr. adel sattute in charge of and interim negotiations of libya you have the floor sir thank you madame chair uh my delegation aligns itself with the african group statement delivered by ganon a doubt set allow me on behalf of my delegation to express thanks and appreciation to the iom and its director general on holding this 108 session but i'm chair my country works closely with the iom and partners to seek solutions to the problem of illegal migration taking into account that libya is considered by thousands of migrants as a transit country towards the final destination of europe libya right now is neither stable nor secure country to receive such huge number of migrants however the government of the national court spares no effort to help the government of national court reiterates its call on the iom and other partners to help in dealing with this ongoing migration issue financially and technically in a way that protects the human rights and dignity of those who are exploited by the smuggling or terrorist groups and find a way to assist them the government of national court has requested the attorney general to investigate what has been published recently regarding the smuggling trade of migrants somewhere in libya and wanted here to take the opportunity to seek help of the iom african union and other partners to cooperate with the attorney general of libya and bring about all information they may have on the issue with the aim of bringing perpetrator is before justice in conclusion the government of national court is determined to continue the ongoing constructive cooperation with the iom calling on the immediate return of the international staff back to libya finally libya is highly welcoming the joining of friendly republic of cuban cook islands to the iom family and welcomes warmly the state of coeta as an observer state thank you madam chair thank you very much thank you libya and now i give the floor to the director general for his comments and please include also your comments to the statements of sudan and panama for leftover from this morning thank you was very happy to see uh his excellency uh dr elta elta hi uh elta honey and we had just a very good bilateral right after that before we we broke for the for lunch we have a long-standing partnership with sudan they have excellent cooperation and we've witnessed steady growth in the relationship over the years particularly the last two years uh we want to thank uh sudan and its people for their generous support of more than 200 000 refugees for many many years and that's kind of gone unnoticed but it needs to be recognized and thank you for that i appreciate also on a more monday note thank you for your recent uh clearance of all of your arrears so that you're now in full standing on voting privileges and so forth thank you for the good work that you did on that um and as i i told you during our bilateral conversation at the break i've been embarrassed that i haven't been able to get down to sudan for the last few years but i will be coming in the early part of 2018 it's on my schedule now i appreciate the leadership of sudan in the cartoon process which just met a few days ago um and the cooperation with iom and other partners in combating trafficking and smuggling of people the cooperation with sudan is also part of our regional cooperation with the oic with the league of arab states uh and other regional bodies and this recently focused on the preparation of national and regional positions on the global compact we hope we can support you on that um uh i'd like to also thank the uh permanent representative and ambassador of panamol for his presentation i appreciate particularly what you've done to help us by allowing us to have a regional office in panamol it's a very important office it has both regional and global responsibilities and it's functioned very very well thanks to the support that you've given us and continue to um congratulate you on the lead that you've just assumed of the the regional conference on migration the so-called puebla process that looks at matters in central and north america and the caribbean i'm like you're the subjects you've chosen for the presidency one is sustainable development goals and another is migration governance and we will be honored to continue to support your presidency and the regional conference i want to congratulate you also on the approval and implementation of your national plan against human trafficking for the period 2017 2022 um and the provision of assistance and protection of victims and we'd be happy to to support you on that um the distinguished uh representative of south africa glad to have you here and have your presentation having spent many years in your country i followed developments there uh closely and i want to thank you for hosting our very large regional office that covers the whole uh saddock area uh all the way up to to the congo i was also impressed that you recently developed and published a white paper in addition you're now trying to ensure uh equal treatment for migrants and particularly to a special dispensation for those in uh irregular status so they can be regularized that's very important particularly in light of recent years and you've got a very much of a whole of government holistic approach which i think is important um in negotiating of the global compact across the board um the um i want to express appreciation to the uh honorable representative of columbia uh this is one of our has been our largest post in the world and one of the two or three largest now we've had an excellent reception there and support thank you for the um active uh program that we have and for our large and very diversified iowan mission um i think that um i want to congratulate president santos in particular for all of his efforts to bring peace with the fark which uh richly married him the nobel peace prize we're honored to be asked to with the unicef to reintegrate the child soldiers two problems there beyond the normal ones one is they're no longer children and two they've never lived in a moneyed economy but