“ROAD TO MARRAKECH”; GUTERRES SPEAKS ON MIGRATION AND HUMAN DIGNITY.

By Isaac Ato MENSAH

Accra- 2 October, 2018.

 

The United Nations General Assembly has raised the stakes further on illegal global migration.

This December, it will hold an intergovernmental conference on the troubling phenomenon in the great African city, Marrakech in Morocco.

Of the 193 member nations and territories, only the United States of America and Hungary are not in favour of the move.

True to form, Donald J. Trump sees the non-binding Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration as a threat to his America First agenda.

‘America is governed by Americans,’ Trump declared last Tuesday at the 73rd UN General Assembly on the matter.

‘We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism. Around the world, responsible nations must defend against threats to sovereignty not just from global governance, but also from other, new forms of coercion and domination.’

He was referring to the intent of the Compact.

‘Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel’, Samuel Johnson will still be writing from 1775 to politely remind President Trump today.

Trump urged, instead, a long term solution to illegal migration.

But John Maynard Keynes will still be prompting Trump from 1935, ‘In the long run we’re all dead’.

Keynes argued that the economy can go into a long period of unemployment and underemployment.

The long run is therefore made up of a series of short run steps undertaken by governments.

But the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration itself is speaking to THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON, even when (s)he has flouted a host country’s laws on migration.

The Compact seeks intergovernmental cooperation to among other things ‘protect the safety, dignity and human rights and freedoms of all migrants regardless of their migratory status and at all times’.

That is why we are happy that the next day, on the sidelines of the same UN General Assembly, António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, gave him a fitting and appropriate reply.

Let us quote the Secretary-General generously…….

‘Human mobility is at the top of the political agenda, from town councils to parliaments to the United Nations General Assembly.

Its economic implications make migration a concern for global multinationals and start-ups alike.

And migration is also deeply personal.

It is debated everywhere, by those who hope, or fear, that movement across borders will profoundly change their lives.

Migration is a historic and multi-faceted phenomenon involving humanitarian, human rights, and demographic issues.

It has deep economic, environmental and political implications.

It generates many different, legitimate and strongly-held opinions. Not always the strongly held are legitimate; not always the legitimate are strongly held.

Unfortunately, it is also an issue that has often been misrepresented and exploited for political gain.

Unregulated, unmanaged migration has created false and negative perceptions of migrants that feed into a narrative of xenophobia, intolerance and racism.

That makes agreement on the text of this first-ever Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular Migration a particularly difficult, but at the same time an extremely important achievement.

It is a tribute to the willingness of Member States to listen to each other, and to tackle the complexities of migration in an open and comprehensive way.’

In his main address to the General Assembly the previous day, Guterres stated, ‘Migrants and refugees continue to face discrimination and demagoguery in the context of clearly insufficient international cooperation.

And in the year marking the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the human rights agenda is losing ground and authoritarianism is on the rise.’

We salute Guterres for his candour and forthrightness.

Last year the Moroccan sovereign, HRM King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful – who will be welcoming the world to Marrakech this December for the UN General Assembly meeting, emphatically delivered an important speech on migration to the African Union.

His Majesty stated, ‘The 21st century will be a century of large-scale human intermingling…we ought to turn immigration into a subject of peaceful debate and constructive exchange….irregular migration accounts for a mere 20 percent of international migration… 85 percent of migrants’ earnings remain in host countries…out of every five African migrants, four remain in Africa’.

Marrakech, the host city, is a thriving multicultural tourist destination that has been hosting migrants and travellers for more than a thousand years.

Surely the city of Marrakech has serious lessons for the world.

Are we ready to speak with candour against authoritarianism?

What about against demagoguery?

Are we ready to promote the dignity of the human person?

Are we ready to learn from the 1000 year history of the people of Marrakech now that the opportunity has availed itself?