JAKARTA - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly highlighted the way the world treats migrants. According to Guterres, the real problem is not migration, but the failure of countries to manage it together.
Citing Xinhua, Friday, May 8, the statement was delivered by Guterres at the first plenary session of the 2026 International Migration Review Forum at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, Thursday.
"Migration is not a crisis. The crisis is the collective failure of the world to manage it together," Guterres said.
He criticized the practice of making migrants political scapegoats. Migrants, said Guterres, are often demeaned in public conversations, and their rights and dignity are ignored.
In the past two years, more than 15,000 people have died or gone missing along migration routes. In the past four years, at least 200,000 people have fallen victim to human trafficking. Most of the victims are women and girls.
Guterres said migration is part of human history. Migration helps build communities, drive economies, and encourage innovation. But now, migration issues are often distorted by fear and misinformation.
"Migrants are made scapegoats for political gain, dehumanized in public discourse, and denied their rights and dignity," Guterres said, quoted by Xinhua.
He also highlighted families and children who are still detained under migration policies. Many migrant workers, he said, are still exploited and do not receive labor protection.
Guterres therefore called for human rights to be placed at the center of migration policy. Governments are urged to end discriminatory practices, guarantee legal processes, seek alternatives to detention, and stop detaining children and families of migrants.
The UN is also pushing for safer migration. The way is through early warning systems, better data, inter-state cooperation, and search and rescue operations in accordance with international law.
Guterres emphasized that human smuggling and trafficking must be eradicated. States need to dismantle criminal networks, cut off the flow of funds, strengthen cross-border law enforcement, and bring perpetrators to justice.
He also asked that official migration routes be made clearer and more accessible. An orderly route, Guterres said, could curb irregular migration, reduce exploitation, meet labor needs, and keep families together.
According to Guterres, the country of origin of migrants must also be strengthened. Investment in education, skills, and decent work, especially for young people, can reduce the pressure to undertake dangerous journeys.
Guterres said cross-border, cross-government, and cross-community cooperation was needed because no one country could manage migration alone.
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