In this Oct 12, 2022 file photo, migrants sail after boarding a smuggler's boat on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, northern France, in an attempt to cross the English Channel. (SAMEER Al-DOUMY / AFP)
UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for the protection and respect of migrants, who he described as powerful drivers of "economic growth, dynamism, and understanding".
"They must be respected without discrimination – and irrespective of whether their movement is forced, voluntary, or formally authorized," the UN chief said in his message for the International Migrants Day, which falls on Dec 18 annually.
Over the past eight years, at least 51,000 migrants have died, and thousands of others gone missing, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
Guterres urged the world to "do everything possible" to prevent their loss of life – as a humanitarian imperative and a moral and legal obligation.
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The secretary-general hailed the more than 80 percent of those who cross borders in a safe and orderly fashion as powerful drivers of "economic growth, dynamism, and understanding."
"But unregulated migration along increasingly perilous routes – the cruel realm of traffickers – continues to extract a terrible cost," he said.
Over the past eight years, at least 51,000 migrants have died, and thousands of others gone missing, said the top UN official.
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And he pushed for search and rescue efforts, medical care, expanded and diversified rights-based pathways for migration, and greater international investments in countries of origin "to ensure migration is a choice, not a necessity."