PRESS CONFERENCE BY Secretary-General’s special representative for migration

Belgium had agreed to host the first of a series of forums that would bring together decision makers from origin and destination countries around the world to discuss specific aspects of migration, Peter Sutherland, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Migration and Development, said at a press conference this afternoon.

Briefing correspondents on the two-day High-Level Dialogue on Immigration and Development, which began at Headquarters this morning, Mr. Sutherland said the Secretary-General had proposed the establishment of a “Global Forum on Migration and Development” to take place in different capitals on the invitation of their respective Governments.  The Brussels event would be held next year.

Since the General Assembly’s December decision to hold the High-Level Dialogue, he said, the Secretary-General had issued a report on the connection between aspects of migration and development, the migration debate had garnered intense interest from Member States.

Asked whether anything concrete would result from the High-Level Dialogue, such as regional round tables or bilateral discussions, Mr. Sutherland said those meetings were the beginning of the process, not the end.  The most agreeable scenario would be for Member States to reach consensus on moving forward with a specific proposal at a multilateral level, and then agree on how that would take place.  However, Member States were yet to reach consensus on the forums, and some may not be in favour of the Secretary-General’s proposal.

When asked which Member States may not advocate moving forward with the proposal, the Special Representative said he believed the United States might not be in favour.  However, the implications for development and its connection with migration -- such as remittances, foreign investment and the brain drain from developing countries -- were the subject matter for a dialogue that must take place.

Asked what would happen if the United States did not participate in the forums, Mr. Sutherland replied that a big part of the equation would be missing because that country had the largest number of migrants.

In response to questions about the positions of various Member States, he said the European Union would be in favour of the proposal, but he was not yet aware of the Russian Federation’s or Australia’s feelings.

Responding to a question about how migration effectively created second-class citizens in destination countries, and how the United Nations addressed that issue, he said the establishment and implementation of rights could not take place in the case of illegal migrants.  That created great difficulties for them and they often became victims of smugglers and traffickers.

Most Governments did not deal holistically with migration, he said, adding that it was important to create cooperation among origin, transit and destination countries, and to create sustainable mechanisms that recognized rights issues.

Asked whether the United Nations had tried to standardize rules for migrants in terms of terrorism, he said there was an absolute concern on the part of Member States that border-security issues remain solely in the purview of national administrations.

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For information media • not an official record