The General Assembly considered the current migration and refugee crises at its meetings on 19 and 20 November. Member States agreed in the need for a comprehensive and global approach and supported the Secretary General’s initiative to hold a High-Level Summit on managing large-scale movements of migrants and refugees in September 2016. Aside from the urging humanitarian needs, many states emphasized the need to address the root causes of conflicts together with the importance of fully implementing the 2030 Agenda on sustainable development.
The Secretary General announced several related events for the next year and announced that he will organize a High-Level Summit on managing large-scale movements of migrants and refugees on the margins of the General Debate of the 71st session of the General Assembly in September 2016. To guide the discussions at this Summit, he will also submit a report on models for comprehensive solutions based on global responsibility sharing.
Member States agreed that a comprehensive and global approach is needed to tackle the dramatic and unprecedented migration and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean basin. Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq that are already hosting 4.3 million people. Most of those refugees were fleeing conflict, violence, persecution and some had become victims for a second time due to migrant smuggling and human trafficking. Many countries referred to the 2030 Agenda and the importance of development in long-term conflict prevention and addressing issues of human mobility in general.
In a statement delivered by the Deputy Permanent Representative, Hungary emphasized the need to make clear distinction between migration and refugee crises as they have different root causes. Then a global, comprehensive, but differentiated response is needed to tackle the root causes of the refugee crisis, address issues related to global migration. In the meantime, the international community should step up its efforts to provide humanitarian aid and development assistance to host countries and communities. Throughout the process, the international community should bear in mind the need for synergy and virtuous cycles and aim at successfully and fully implementing the 2030 Agenda.
