African Migrants Must Be Protected, Treated with Dignity, Respect - UN insist

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Tuesday is International Migrants Day, and the head of the U.N. Migration Agency is urging nations to drop their negative perceptions of migrants and to treat them with dignity, respect and as a benefit to their societies.

When the United Nations proclaimed December 18 as International Migrants Day in 2000, around 150 million people were on the move. Now, 18 years later, that number has grown to an estimated 258 million.

Many people migrate to other nations for economic reasons, because they are desperately poor, are running from violence or are imbued with a sense of adventure and entrepreneurship. The United Nations reports another 40 million people are internally displaced by conflict.

International Organization for Migration Director General Antonio Vitorino says many people do not wish to leave their homes, but are compelled to do so by circumstances out of their control. For example, he says every year millions of people are forced to leave by climate-related disasters and natural hazards.

His spokesman, Joel Millman, says IOM chief Vitorino notes the mere act of migration exposes many people to great dangers.