14 May 2014. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on all countries to rally around the common goal of creating "regular, safe and orderly channels of migration."

In an opening speech to the annual Global Forum on Migration and Development in Stockholm,Sweden Mr. Ban pointed out that last year´s General Assembly’s High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development had declared migration “one of the most crucial issues of our times.”

The Secretary-General said that more than one in thirty people on earth is a migrant and every community had much to gain from migration, when managed properly, and much to lose when it is not.

“Last year I put forward an eight-point plan on migration. I called for protecting human rights, lowering the costs of migration, ending exploitation, helping stranded migrants, raising public awareness, integrating migration into the development agenda, which we are doing, gathering more reliable data, and enhancing partnerships,” Mr. Ban said, adding that it is important to ground all migration policies firmly in fundamental rights.
“This means protecting migrant workers from discrimination, ensuring the rights of migrant domestic workers and protecting men, women and children from abuse.”

The Secretary-General meets today with the Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt
He also had a meeting with Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. They discussed Sweden's important role in promoting global dialogue on migration as well as the particular challenges of addressing the needs of growing numbers of refugees and IDPs around the world, including in Syria, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Finally, they underscored the importance of a holistic approach to the Post-2015 sustainable development agenda and the interlinkages between issues such as migration, development and environment.

Photo: Ban speaking at the Global Forum on Migrations and Development in Stockholm 14 May 2014. Photo: GFMD / Mikael Sjöberg