UNGA president: Sustainable development should include migrants

World
Europe

A senior UN official said Wednesday that comprehensive inclusion of migrants is needed for achieving the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

"We will not be able to achieve the sustainable development goals if we do not comprehensively include migrants," said Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, the UN General Assembly president, in her opening remarks to the High-Level Debate on International Migration and Development.

Affirming that the agenda is people-centered, she points to a specific target of the agenda that "refers to the need to facilitate safe, regular, and responsible migration and calls for the implementation of planned and well managed migration policies."

To achieve this, she said, "We must include migrants in policies and activities aimed at expanding access to quality education, to health, to housing and basic services."

Meanwhile, Espinosa stressed achieving sustainable development helps to mitigate adverse drivers of migration, as it is "the best preventative tool" for "disorderly migration."

"Let us bear in mind that no one decides to leave behind their family, their land, their belongings, without a powerful reason for doing so," she said.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency