Representatives of the Baha’i International Community attended the Intergovernmental Conference on the Global Compact for Migration in Marrakech, Morocco on 10-11 December, 2018.

The high-level conference led to the adoption of a landmark declaration by 164 Member States which aims to ensure a life of safety and dignity for people on the move and to better manage migration.

There are 258 million migrants globally, representing 3.4 percent of the global population, the UN says.  

UN Special Representative for International Migration, Louise Arbour, welcomed the adoption of the declaration, known as the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the first ever negotiated intergovernmental agreement to cover all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.

Ms. Arbour noted that it is “designed to enhance safety and order in migration management, and reduce recourse to dangerous, chaotic migratory routes.” adding that “it seeks to maximize all the benefits of human mobility and mitigate its challenges.”

“There was a strong emphasis on the need for global collaboration on the issue of international migration,” said Simin Fahandej, representing the Baha’i International Community at the meeting.

“At the conference, there was a firm recognition that no one nation can, alone, meet the challenges of an interconnected world.”

The Baha’i International Community submitted a statement ahead of the conference outlining the urgent need to view the movement of populations in the larger context of humanity’s collective life and to examine its underlying factors and causes.

“The movement of populations has, over the centuries, allowed civilisations to come into contact with insights and advances made elsewhere, and enabled entire societies to emerge.Today, it is one of the means by which the bonds between peoples of diverse backgrounds are continuously strengthened and is a key catalyst in the emergence of a world community,” the statement reads.

The necessity for a “long-term approach” to the issue is crucial as is a “far reaching” and “informed” conversation around the issue of migration, the statement adds.  

“That conversation cannot fall short of examining social, political and economic structures, systems and attitudes that underpin and perpetuate the current order. It needs to include a genuine reflection on how this order can be redesigned to ensure an adequate response to the needs of masses of the world’s population living in situations of war, poverty and oppression.

“Most importantly, it needs to be based on the understanding of the indisputable interconnectedness of our societies, and the reality that humanity’s collective life suffers when any one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its neighbors.”

Read the full statement here