United Nations Radio

Migrants

With no deal in sight as climate change talks in Copenhagen draw to a close, many countries are concerned about their very survival.  Pacific island nations are likely to be among the hardest hit if a legally binding agreement is not forged at the Climate Change Conference which will likely end on Sunday.  

Chauzy:  People in various parts of the world are adapting to climate change by migrating, or through migration. So, what we are seeing in most parts of the world is that migration is mostly internal. It's essentially from rural areas that are badly affected, let's say by drought, to urban areas-and that's obviously got a whole set of challenges for those urban areas. And we're seeing beyond the internal migration movements, we're seeing regional migration flows: within West Africa, for instance; East Africa, the Horn of Africa, Southern Africa. There are again people who are affected by climate change, by environmental degradation, who are moving beyond their borders to go to neighboring countries.

MAIGUA: The issue of protection of migrants is key to IOM's objectives. What kind of protection is IOM advocating for migrants?

CHAUZY: Obviously, people who have to migrate because of environmental changes, of climate change, also need and they deserve the protection that all human beings need and deserve. What we are seeing though, unfortunately, is that those migrants, especially the most vulnerable migrants who, on top of everything else, have to deal with the consequences of climate change or environmental degradation, find themselves in situations of extreme vulnerability which unfortunately leads to their exploitation.

MAIGUA: In a number of countries where migrants move, there is the feeling that this is illegal. There is a lot of criminalization. What is IOM's message, especially in countries that seem to criminalize migration?

CHAUZY: Unfortunately, that is the case. And on top of that, you must also accept the current financial crisis has contributed massively negative perceptions of migrants, of migrations and migrants all too often are perceived especially today with the current financial crisis as people stealing jobs from nationals so there's several impacts here, several layers. Yes, the first thing of course is that the irregular migrants who are stuck in the hands of smuggling networks are particularly vulnerable. And their rights are abused, unfortunately, all too often. It's also true that countries tend to stigmatize migrants. In some instances acts of xenophobia against migrants and foreigners which is totally unacceptable. And on top of that, if you look at again, the impact of climatic changes, of environmental degradation, hitting the poorest amongst the poor, you have again another category of people who are forced to migrate and unfortunately will have most of their rights violated as they do. So fundamentally, all human beings, including migrants, are entitled to universal human rights whatever the status, whether a migrant is a regular migrant or an irregular migrant, the status doesn't matter, those fundamental rights are basically applicable to all migrants and all human beings.

MAIGUA: Has IOM come across children who are victims of illegal migration?

CHAUZY: Unfortunately, yes, there are more and more unaccompanied minors as we call them, children, who engage in irregular migration and they are particularly vulnerable because they are children, because they are unaccompanied and because they have no experience of migration so there again, that's a particularly acute problem that we're seeing the world over. Unfortunately, more and more minors are being pushed, in some cases, into migrating illegally and are being exploited either for labor, for sexual exploitation thru the migratory process or in the countries of destination. So there again, that particular aspect needs a comprehensive approach - you need prevention, make sure that minors do not engage or that families do not engage minors in migration. They need protection, you need to protect those children once they manage to get out of the smuggling or trafficking networks and you also need prosecution. You need to prosecute those who organize and benefit from the smuggling or trafficking of unaccompanied minors.

Producer: Patrick Maigua, United Nations Radio Geneva
Duration: 4'03"