 Welcome All is a great pleasure to be moderating such a significant and relevant panel during the third 113 session of the Council, IOM strategy and migration environment and climate change establishes in one of its pillar activities the convening role of IOM and IOM capacity and resources to bring the voices of people affected by climate change environmental degradations and disasters into different forums of discussion and policy coordination. It's extremely relevant to IOM to highlight that climate action cannot be effective if it's not inclusive. Climate action must consider the integration of voices and live the experiences of the people it's meant to serve and to ensure that there is equality and opportunities are made available to the most impacted by climate. Climate hazards do not affect all populations equally but they can deepen pre-existing inequalities and expose vulnerable groups including women, children, youth, elderly in extremely vulnerable situations but also with the gender diversified identity and expressions that translate into new vulnerabilities. Communities depending on natural resources for their livelihoods are the ones impacting less on the environment yet they are suffering the worst consequences of climate change impacts and environmental degradation. These communities often have the least capacity to respond to climate related hazards like droughts, floods and cyclones as discussed previously. Communicating the urgency of the current climate crisis including its impacts on human mobility is thus critical and it's imperative also that we empower and protect all of those voices from the marginalized communities that include youth that want to speak and have a voice on the decisions of their future. Therefore the testimonies of these groups are a significant contribution to shaping policies like adaptation plans and risk reduction strategies. IOM strongly believes that migrants diaspora are sending and receiving communities can help address current and future sustainable development challenges and calls for the whole of society approach to address these challenges. Because our essential actors we can shape their, share their expertise, transfer knowledge and technology to address the climate crisis. But whilst the value of diaspora contributions from remittances to direct investments in skills transfer in their countries of origin has been widely recognized as a contributing factor to address climate change there are still several challenges that we need to discuss on designing policies in the countries of receiving and how exporting technologies, resources, ideas and skills but also leveraging networks is extremely important. The institutional strategy on migration environment and climate change of IOM points that we are committed to support the development of enabling environments that can help migrants diasporas and their communities directly contribute to climate action and sustainable development in places of origin and destination. We need to continue and raise the voices of youth diaspora marginalized communities and the ones most vulnerable to ensure that we have an inclusive mobilization of a whole of society in decision making processes that relate to climate change and migration. Our discussions today aim to highlight the importance of an effective and inclusive climate action with the objective of leaving no one behind but also to discuss the various channels through which we can ensure that migrants have their voices heard and are part of decision making processes. Today we will have four panelists from a diverse range that will come and contribute with their perspectives, their views on the nexus between climate change, environmental degradation, disasters and human mobility. First we will hear from the Honorable Dr. Andrew Kobenda Kungfu, the Special Envoy of the Climate Vulnerable Forum from the Ghana Presidency. Dr. Kobenda is the Executive Director of the Environment Protection Agency in Ghana and is currently serving in several boards in the country. We will also hear from Ms. Vani Alexandra Lorena Velazquez from Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office for Migration, Youth and Children Platform. Vani is a Young Education and Weekly Opportunities Right Advocate who comes from an indigenous community high in the peaks of the Indian mountains. And finally we will also have Ms. Elizabeth Mungling-Smith, Global Jamaica Diaspora Council for Development. Elizabeth is a Government-appointed member to the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council for Development and Team Lead for the Planet Working Group which focus on working with Government, Ministries, Departments and other agencies to enable a multi-sectorial approach to national climate resilience. And to end the panel, Ms. Christelle Slilsekana from the African Union Diaspora Youth Initiative. Christelle provides project management support and consultancy on EU African Union projects and via her functions at the African Diaspora Youth Initiative. She is the contact point for Climate and Migration Working Group where she has worked in these thematic and other areas related with climate security, peace buildings, youth and leadership. Without further ado, I would like to invite the Honorable Dr. Andrew Kobena Kofofu to present his statement. Thank you. Thank you. Your Excellencies. Distinguished speakers, dear colleagues, I bring warm greetings from Ghana, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Issa Slilsekana Adidankwa Kufuadu, who is also the lead and the head of the Ghana CBF President. You all agree with me that migrants are among the most emblematic human phases of climate change in our contemporary world. I'm very honored and pleased to be part of this specific panel during IOM's 118th Council Session. This is a timely panel, as we all still recover from the efforts made at COP 27 in Shamashake in Egypt. Climate vulnerable nations work hard to keep the 1.5 degree objective alive. Multiple advances have been made regarding climate migration and finance, capacity building, loss and damage, fishing and climate action levels. Yet, so much needs to be done. It is interesting to be part of a panel that honors migrants, diasporas, by making their voices heard and their contributions to sustainable development and to climate action more visible. What our distinguished panelists present today will represent their vision, their work, their activities that cut across borders. Those hopes and struggles and our love for families, friends and communities are never stopped by frontier. I am pleased to take the floor on behalf of the Ghana CBF Presidency to present the CBF-led initiative, Migrants for Climate and for Sea. It is a new decade to act on climate change and migration that was launched at COP 27 during a ministerial event led by Bangladesh, together with IOM. Here, I had the single opportunity to meet the director-general in South, Mr Antonio. This new initiative implements our CBF Presidency's priority on migration to expand support for climate change migrants and displaced persons and to leverage migrant communities' contributions to climate action in support of all CBF members. But in the past decade, PVF work on migration has encompassed high-level events with strong advocacy impact. In collaboration with IOM, the ministerial launching at IOM's Council in 2014, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations and IOM, the ministerial breakfast at UN Secretary-General Climate Summit in New York in 2019, and the IOM Geneva International Dialogue on Migration in 2021. It is hence a pleasure to continue our engagement with this panel today. What I taught is migrant for climate bouts. One, it is about shifting the narrative from climate vulnerability to resilience and eventually to prosperity by engaging experience and migrants as active and dynamic players of climate solutions through inclusive approaches. In particular, in national climate prosperity plans, which is being supported by CBF. It is interesting to note that of 27, Bangladesh, Ghana, Maldives, and Sri Lanka have presented their plans at the various levels of work in progress. Two, we intend to mobilize greater solidarity and support for communities most vulnerable to climate change and affected by displacement and migration, increasingly driven by growing impacts of climate change. Nurses to focus on migration in the context of slow onset impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, desertification, sea level rise, laws of ecosystems, and biodiversity, as well as ocean acidification. We intend to build partnerships to support migrants and their experience in climate action with a private sector involvement. United Nations, academic counterparts, civil sites, and cities across the world are all invited in this level, including displacement issues in the funding arrangements for laws and damage, address laws and damage, and innovative laws and damage finance, global shield against climate risk, and in the COP 27 finance accounts. And this, I must say, with some level of pride, that together we all fought hard to get the laws and damage agenda pushed and the success as well. The Federal Republic of Germany, the presidency of the G7, also launched the global shield against climate risk, which is a very, very positive action recorded in the COP 27. Sixth, seeing the full and effective implementation of the global impact for safe, orderly, and regular migration in all areas dealing with climate change, resilience, disasters due to natural hazards, and environmental degradation. We take the environment while promoting development. Vienna is a champion country for the implementation of the ECM. The initiative will support the implementation of the pledge submitted by Bangladesh on behalf of CBF at the International Migration Review Forum in May 2020, in the year. The next is to acknowledge the role of migrants in sustainable development, running across the food spectrum of SDGs. Here are eight examples of the span of the initiative, one, reducing inequalities, access with SDG 10, partnership, SDG 17, sustainable safety, SDG 11, climate action, SDG 13, clean energy, SDG 7, clean water and sanitation, SDG 6, life on land, SDG 15, and life below water, SDG 14. And this clearly demonstrates the commitment of the migrants for climate as aligned to the aspirations of the SDGs initiatives. Eight will be to recognize the adverse impasse of climate change on migrants' rights, in line with the Paris Agreement preamble and supporting the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, and where the Special Advisor Secretary-General on solutions to internal displacement. And here again, the concept of climate justice come to play. So at CBF, you do recognize that we cannot do anything without recognizing or upholding the rights of the people, as climate change effects are concerned. As part of this initiative, a Climate for Action Award will identify, recognize, and support the most innovative practices. The migration focus will be considered such as diasporas investments and transfers of skills, migrant community-based solutions, labor migration, clean and blue jobs, free integration in home countries, and migrants' integration in host countries. The award will identify diverse types of activities that contribute to climate actions such as clean energy, water, waste and sanitation management, land rehabilitation, resilience-building activities, agro-ecology, ocean and maritime solutions, or ecosystem preservation. We aim to award the prize, we aim to award the prize in 2023 as part of CBF contributions to COP28. To conclude, the CBF Ghana Presidents looks forward to the developments and achievements of the migrants for climate initiatives, crime voices and actions beyond borders. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be part of this all-important engagement. Thank you for your indulgence. I wish you. Dr. Renri, thank you so much for your words and for the discussions we had at COP27. It's a pleasure hearing you again and receiving the message of CBF. I would like now to invite Ms. Vania Alexandra Larena Velazquez to provide her statement. Thank you so much to the moderator for the floor and for IOM for the opportunity today to represent your migrant and indigenous perspectives as a priority of the IOM Council. I'm here on behalf of the Migration and Children Proud from the largest global youth led and self-organized stakeholder group for youth and children in migration governance processes as the Latin America and the Caribbean regional officer. Our organization has partnered closely with IOM on key advocacy spaces such as the Global Forum for Migration and Development and the Global Compact for Migration Reviews, and we're committed to continuing our strong strategic focus on the inclusion and embedding of diverse adult voices across IOM. My name is Vania Alexandra Larena Velazquez from Lima, Peru. I look like a cute, typical Andean and indigenous girl, right? It's because my roots come from there. The Peruvian Highlands. Every year, 200,000 people move from their rural communities in Peru to the Peruvian capital, Lima, according to Ipsos Peru. My family and I were one of them. I'm proud of my Andean roots. My family comes from Puno, Ayamaran Roots, and the Highlands of Lima, Quechua. My story is not a story of migration by choice. It's a story of displacement. Well, growing up, I went through hardships from limited access to proper education to having to decide whether to eat or attend a school. I grew up in a place where there is no sanitation, no access to healthcare, no electricity, and more. For years, my people have been perceived as ignorant. However, we have been simply excluded from society, put into a box far away with no education and no opportunities at all. All because of deep rooted discrimination permitting many of the Lima's communities. Go take care of your crops, I was told. But what if I don't want to? I want to grow things. Yes, but I want to grow hope. I want to grow resilience, and I want to grow opportunities for people like me. Because when you think about a migrant, you mostly think of a person who goes to a foreign country. But it's not always like that. Indigenous people are often internally displaced, too. They also tried to put in me. But what they didn't know was I was the seed, and they were putting me in fertile soil. I grew up mostly in Lima, Peru, capital, known by us as the Peruvian Dream, and the promise of having better opportunities in life. Does it really provide us with better opportunities with its level of pollution? Nowadays, sustainable cities are as necessary as mostly, especially in the most contaminated areas where modern systems could stop harmful consequences of environmental degradation. However, this is not the case. Coming up with forward-thinking solutions poses too many obstacles for the public officers, right? Instead of sustainable infrastructure and design, we have big industries that contaminate our rivers, and our animals die because of that. We face deforestation in order to let innovation come to our lands. We do not need that. You are forcing onto us the definition of thriving, and our perspective and opinion is disregarded. We need and I make a call for action, a sustainable city with solutions created in partnership among governments, policymakers, international entities, and local leaders. Because the later on, they mostly know what their own communities do for the most. They also, what if we invest in more livable cities? We have seen countries rise from ashes in Europe. For example, turning into thriving communities and economies. What is stopping us from re-building our future together with indigenous communities in Latin America? Is it that we do not see it or we don't want to see it? In the highlands, I hide to ride a lamb or a donkey to get to school at the age of four, passing through abysses, mountains, rivers, and in low temperatures. People have drowned in some rivers just because they wanted to get educated. Some others die every year because of the cold air masses due to lack of prevention measures for these temperatures that continuously fall due to climate change. I was all along with a backpack in which you could find papers and a pencil, but I could see hope inside it. A lot of us were doing sustainable innovations, but they go unnoticed because of their communication barriers and widespread discrimination. Peru had more than 150 languages, but by 2015, 37 of them have gone lost. Furthermore, most international opportunities for youth are in English in Peru. What is Peru doing towards teaching us a foreign language if we cannot still get to our 100% in our own indigenous languages? I call on the Peruvian authorities to implement a course within the Peruvian schools to learn at least one indigenous language. In other countries, the students learn two languages in a school and their economies are better prospering. If I can be here talking to you right now in English, it's because I got a full scholarship in Lima to learn English inside the school system. And even though English is taught in schools, the only phrase my classmates could say by graduation was, can I go to the bathroom, please? Because of people like me cannot afford education like that, because you cannot learn what you don't know. And I call upon international organizations present today to look into indigenous children as well in Peru and go there talking to your own language because to understand truly what they are facing nowadays is to talk to them in the own unique language. I call upon you to ensure that indigenous people are not only provided with education, but quality education and quality and dignified work spaces. I call upon you to work along with the Peruvian government to look into the agricultural products that come from the indigenous farmers and support it and sell it in a fair price that can allow them to obtain a decent revenue and not throw away the whole harvest as we have seen before because the returns are smaller than the expenses most of the time. And I make a call to all the countries who have similar realities because maybe the indigenous or native people cannot make it here, but it's time to reflect whether we want to have an acting engagement or we are just decided to ignore this issue. In Lima, I had to take a bus which contaminates to get to school because there is no sustainable transportation. Options were available only in Dubai where I am living right now, where I am studying with a full right of scholarship from my undergraduate studies. I have also learned of a number of sustainable enterprises and sustainable cities such as where the last expo Dubai 2020 was hold and where the COP28 is going to be held. Maybe this is one of the reasons why some places strive and some others are stuck. We need diverse youth voices here at this conference also because young people are the ones who will inherit this planet along with your expertise and new ideas all together. We can create a better future for all. For instance, Julio Garay grew up with a name in the highlands of Peru. Yes, Peru become one of the South American countries with the highest rate of food insecurity according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The highlands are the major exporters of food because of their diverse crops but are the most affected because most of the production doesn't follow the circular economy principles. Julio is fighting with anemia with cookies made with fortified wheat floor lentils and recita, kiwicha, egg, chia, among others. In addition, the cookies contain proteins, minerals and vitamin C to improve the absorption of nutrients. Another innovation was created by Jorge Alfredo Nila and Angie. They designed a transparent bag similar to plastic that is biodegradable and even edible, which is made from cassava starch. In addition, they created packaging made of Bihau and banana leaves which can easily replace a story from a police terrain in the food industry and others. But usually, these innovations and social enterprises are not much subsidized though. At COP 27, I had the opportunity to look at how other youth would embrace in their different realities and facing the local challenges in a sustainable way. We need to look at how our specific challenges can be tackled and not framed only in an industrially sized way. In Lima, I got the opportunity to get educated even if my grandma couldn't. In Lima, I got to have food on my table every day. But in Lima, I also got to see a lot of contaminants, plenty of single-use plastic materials and other waste. All of that ends in our faraway mountains and at the moment, there are not enough social enterprises ever to introduce a circular economy system. In Dubai, despite its various problems, I got to see sustainable enterprises subsidized by the government. In Dubai, I got to experience sustainable means of transportation and living. In Dubai, I'm still learning about how to approach local challenges and make it a thriving nation and economy from a place built on a desert with its unique challenges. Peru is one of the greenest places on earth, having fertile lines and strong people keen to have a better lifestyle. We just need some decentralized thinking and prioritize the well-being of each member's society. Are you up for the challenge? Thank you. Thank you, Vanya, for your testimony and the powerful message that you'd have to present to all Member States. It's a pleasure to have you here. I would pass the floor to Ms Elizabeth Mullings-Smith for our intervention. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me today. I would like to express a different approach in terms of what my heritage country has done in engaging its diaspora. I represent Jamaica and I sit on the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council. My portfolio is development and I will explain that as we go along that Jamaica, like all other Caribbean states, do have the direct impact of climate change. Our food security, water security, energy security are all compromised as well as aspects of our economy, namely our agricultural sectors and tourism sectors which are directly affected. But we also have a wide diaspora network and our diaspora range from the UK where I am a member of the diaspora there. The UK and the US, Canada, several countries on the African continent, several countries within Southeast Asia and in India and also in Antarctica. So we do travel the world and we do bring our cultural paradigm with us. I set that to set the scene as to why it is important for our host country's approach and also the reason why they thought to change the relationship. So in the past the only connection with the diaspora has been through remittances and remittances in response to emergency situations such as falling a hurricane or major storm event or any other natural disaster. And what we collectively said within the diaspora is that we can offer much more. The intellectual capital of my heritage country Jamaica is quite strong outside of the island as it is inside of the island. The issue is how to have the appropriate pathways to connect the two so we can effectively enable growth and development of Jamaica. And this is what the government of Jamaica and opposition had decided to develop. We have a global Jamaica diaspora council with elected representatives from the larger diaspora groups in Canada, the US and the United Kingdom. We also have sector representatives for different thematic areas which are important to the growth and development of Jamaica. I represent a sector area so I'm a sector lead for development. And what that means is that I act as an advocate and to work with my country representatives whether the ministry department and agencies to enable different aspects of development. I also act as a conduit between my host country and my heritage country to enable relationships that will invoke change, will invoke a stronger development platform and also will enable the voiceless. And when I talk about the voiceless I'm talking about communities who often are not incorporated in the agenda. One of the main issues that I'd like to table today is the importance of holistic policy making and this goes across the board. I use my own country as an example because we have brought it to the fore that it is important for us as we move forward as we develop as we approach 2030 and as we truly embrace the SDGs that we have a holistic approach to our policy setting. Within climate change and climate change agenda because of our geographic position we are directly impacted by all the classic examples of climate change whether it be storm events, drought, sea level rise, we are affected as an island state. And because of this everything that we do at ministerial level in terms of setting policy across the various ministerial portfolios is important to have this joint approach and having joint conversations. Policy setting in water security has a direct impact on policy setting in food security and vice versa. There's a nexus between the policies of water, energy and food security and that needs to be embraced across the board. We are not going to achieve what we need to achieve for communities and safeguarding the future development platform of our countries and I speak for Jamaica and other small island states who are in a similar situation. We are not going to achieve it if we do not have this holistic approach to policy setting. And if that's one main point I would like to leave here today in terms of my testimony and what I bring on behalf of our diaspora group. We also by embracing this and acting as advocates for this approach try to eliminate the conflict of policies and how these affect the communities on the ground. We are in climate change as we all know is not a future thing. We're living in it and we're living in it now. In my country we have been going through the pains of this for a substantial period of time. The recent COP 27 discussions on loss and damage are also important for the security and sustainability of those communities and the growth and development of my heritage country. So I'd like to leave as a main development point the importance of this holistic approach to policy setting. This is key and this is a main concern from the diaspora group. We see the benefits of it and as the small development states know the impact of this joint conversation is immense and far-reaching. I will probably have further questions later on to answer. I would just like to leave that there because I think that is the main message on behalf of my diaspora group that I am mandated to bring to you today. Thank you. Thank you Elizabeth. And as the voices of the diaspora extremely important to IOM, to our work and the success of moving forward these semantics, I would like to invite our final panelist to speak. Miss Cristal Silcikana, which I think will join us also online. Thank you. Yes thank you very much. First of all I really want to thank all those who put this panel together because I believe this is an extremely important conversation that we need to have. It's really important that we start opening up the spaces to migrants, migrants, descents and community members in order to ensure that no one is being left behind. So to the question of how African diaspora or African or migrant youth communities are being affected by climate change in Europe but also abroad. First of all I'm from Cameroon but I have been living my whole life here in Belgium but I have spent a lot of time researching and doing some work across on the African continent and I want to stress the fact that the impact and the context totally varied on how people are affected. So it's definitely started with people at home, people in Africa in order to motivate why people do move because I think this is really important for people to understand. So before even arriving in Europe, Africans, people on the African continent are being exposed to floods, droughts, hurricanes and across the last years we have seen how a lot of people have been moving or have been first of all displaced such as in Nigeria where like millions have been displaced which recent floods. And I want to share just two stories here of two people I met in my most recent trip which was in Senegal and I want to share their stories. So I met Yassine Day which is a transformer tree as we say in French so she's a fish producer transformer and she is living at the coastal line off Senegal and her house is the only one still standing there in her city at the coastal line with the rising sea levels all the houses has been destroyed a lot a huge part of her house has been destroyed and many were forced to move out of there but she's still there when I asked her why she was still there despite the threat that the sea is closing she told me it's because I have no charge it's because I have nothing left it's because I have nowhere else to go. A lot of people at the coastal line in Senegal are experiencing this threat and what is also happening here is at the moment of when I was visiting her there has been a past day's intense rain and a whole the whole site where those women are active and producing fish has been was flooded so for the past for a whole month or weeks this woman haven't been able to work. The next story I want to share with you also the story of a young person which is who is Musa. Musa is a fisherman also from Senegal but then in other cities and he actually tried to go to Spain so he has been he had he has been stranded for five days on the sea in Senegal with 50 people on the boat and where people died on the boat they had no food and he made it to Morocco he wasn't able to make it to make it to Spain I want to ask him if he called will he do it do it again he said yes despite the fact that he has been sent back to Senegal despite all the risk that he has experienced he will try it again because he has he wants to provide a better future for his family and he believes that it's at the other side of the world that he had to that he has to go there so the reason also why Musa was moving is because um they they were fishing they were experiencing a lack of fish so they weren't fishing as much as before and there is a lot of competition with agents and european were are present on the seas so they are not benefiting from their own resources which is something that we really need to start addressing so as we can see and as we all know the the economic part and and the climate change part is really intertwined and we cannot dissociate both which is also a lot of the reason why people move and as for those who are able to reach Europe and as we see for example right now in Belgium a lot of migrants right now are stranded on the streets we can if you pass the streets in Brussels for example you see a lot of migrants living on the streets sleeping there and um we have one of the park biggest one which is called Park Maximilian where a lot of migrants are just being left stranded there a lot of these migrants are migrants in transit we're trying to reach the UK and a lot of them are coming from eastern Africa so your trains million et cetera and the reason is because the language barrier but also because they have their family over there and because they had they didn't have anything anymore or having experienced drought severe drought in their countries they were forced to move so the people those people were like migrants in transit are not benefiting from the governmental protection they are not being taken in charge by the government and also by international protection and what's happening right now like I was saying earlier just people those migrants are left stranded in the street what is happening in Brussels is like a lot of the problems that we are experiencing are then blamed onto migrants so there is like this kind of demonetization of migrants of immigration in in Europe in Belgium so this is like an other level of like what is happening to African communities not only in Africa but then also in once they arrive in Belgium but then there is also a last one that I want to share which is then people of migrants descent so we have been living here for the whole life generations present here for the past generations we have been present in Belgium race lived in Belgium of African descent those ones also experience climate change but then in different way which is where they are not only experiencing environmental racism so one of the the Reaper that has been published which is the first one on environmental justice for example in France says that most of the communities were living near incineration waste management sites are those from immigration those from migration descends and those people are being are being exposed to all the emissions that comes with it and when you have this climate crisis that's happening right now rising temperature it is here which is trapping emissions it's right this is also directly impacting their health but also the way they're living another example is for example those communities are also for example not benefiting for example floods defenses in order to protect their houses their homes for eventually floods they're not having access to green spaces which is which then during the summer when it when you have those heat waves it's working against them and when you they're trying to use for example fence or whatsoever even right now because it's super cold you want to put the heater on with the increasing electricity bill knowing that a lot of those people of racialized communities are also having lower incomes they're not able to afford all of that and when you look at for example all the electricity the european green deal and electricity plants transition plants you can see how those communities racialized communities are not taken into account when the decisions are being developed i think this is something that we really need to start paying attention to and we're trying to do true african union diaspora youth initiative but also other diaspora youth organization would or are present here in belgium but not enough is being done so there is a problem that is plural so the context the demonization of immigration multicultural cultural is there is environmental racism but definitely the absence of mainstreaming racialized communities in policy debates in europe and policy papers there is a lack of involvement and engagement not only in africa but definitely a lot here in europe when it comes to involving racialized communities in decision-making processes debates etc so why there is a lot of attention paid um little attention sorry paid to how members of racialized communities are affected by climate change and how they feel um in for example in project predominantly white um spaces in europe most of the data um that has been produced for example um and that we are producing has been done by um racial people from racialized communities from diaspora so diaspora is really contributing diaspora youth is really contributing in raising awareness and making sure that their voices are being heard but not enough is being done because they still need to have access to that space um that will make sure that their their voices is already being taken into account into the decisions and being implemented adopted into the um the policies being developed action plans being developed so i definitely want to share some of the organization we're doing tremendous work raising awarded awareness on um the the situations of diaspora it's not only the african diaspora youth organization which is working closely with a u permanent mission to the eu on working on the agenda 2063 for example looking towards how um that's where i can contribute to to um to for example economical development um on the african continent so addressing this brain drain gap um but definitely i feel that there is an urge for european institutions to start also having this conversation with diaspora youth organization which is not done um a lot way too little and then there is other diaspora youth organizations such as enor which would were developing reports on um the intersection of climate justice racial justice near colonials i think it's very important that we start um addressing and and decolonizing uh policies and spaces in order to make sure that um everyone is being taken into account inclusive as practice real is really being implemented and then you have one put your diaries i said was really making sure its efs or it was really making sure that um grassroots communities on the african continent have it have access to uh decision making uh processes and really can actually talk for themselves and also another organization in france uh which is called get up which is was raising awareness and trying to bridge the gap and really trying to um really change this narrative that actually what what um what um if i can say that way what people um why people are experiencing um as climate change in europe is not the same as what um people racialized communities are experiencing if they are trying to sit more with uh people from other um background culture background to really share more about it it's really important we start bridging this gap and really start listening to each to each heart and realize that the way that we're experiencing climate change is not the same way as others are experiencing it and then finally i just want to say um it's very important that we start looking into um changing the narrative and and how we we pictured migrants migrants aren't more than just migrants these are people individual who have a lot of skills and have a lot to contribute as we can see for example sort of of spain how migrants are culture are contributing to the agricultural sector um but the aspect of definitely of the the the rise in violence really needs to be addressed but they're contributing into entrepreneur entrepreneurship etc so there is a lot there is a lot of skills here we have a lot of skills and much to offer and much to contribute to but we need to be given that space we need to be given um um yeah the tools in order to be able to do that we need to create the right conditions um for for for migrants in order to contribute we need to start seeing my migration as an adaptive solution instead of being seen as a threat and it definitely starts with the way we tell the stories the way the story the way it is shown for example in media or the way it's being communicated to um so definitely actions um decision and also want to stress the fact that actions and decisions taken in europe affect migrants racialized communities but also directly and indirectly affect people on the ground as for example um fishermen in africa so we really need to start addressing all of that if we don't do this um if we do not address this it's not only the global stuff it's not only africa but it also racialized communities in europe we will continue to bear the brunt of um of the climate crisis so yeah thank you thank you christelle for your works and those very poignant stories from senegal we would like to invite any of the member states now if they have raised the question to address to any of the panelists any pressing question please take the floor otherwise we will proceed there's a very long agenda for today but we would like to invite anyone that has a pressing question to be able to do so now there is a question on the second floor thank you very much um i'm with the united states and thank you to all the panelists for your very um informative presentations and especially from the diaspora perspective but i was wondering if i could ask our colleague from peru who obviously is quite energetic and quite passionate about the issues i'm wondering what the indigenous population in peru is doing in terms of the venezuelans who have found their way uh the safety in peru in terms of helping them adapt and integrate into peru thank you so much and just to make sure like you are meaning something about the government who is making towards helping indigenous communities i think it's it's more about what the indigenous communities themselves might be able to do it in terms of helping the government understand the challenges of migration yeah okay thank you so much so uh first of all i think like indigenous communities nowadays are trying to prosper like for example they are trying to have the sustainable enterprises that i was showing you but not only that they are also trying to have job led initiatives within the indigenous communities themselves however as you most of you know like these things require time which may have but also require that quantity of money which usually these communities doesn't have that much so usually we do everything we can from our sources but as well we need some support from the government right so for example like there was a big um like draw let's say or every year what happens is like rocks start falling on the highways while people pass by so what they did is just basically blew that big contemplating stuff but not only that because that's not prevention that's something like happens as a consequence so what they were doing is okay we're looking at the causes what is causing this to fall the rain okay how can we prevent the rain from happening we cannot right so we need to tackle this issue they created canals to make the rain to go other ways so these ways are not happening to throw the rocks behind it it's just such a simple way to prevent some like big things from happening and unwanted deaths but again this requires money right so we are doing everything we come from our sources to prevent such things but we also need the help from the government and not only the government but international organizations as cooperation and generally these staff needs also organization among us but that doesn't happen much of the time you know because once the time the government most of them not all obviously speak in Spanish so when a person goes to these areas how are they going to communicate with indigenous communities if the indigenous community speak their own language and the government speak Spanish this is a miscommunication you can say interpreters okay that requires money who can provide those interpreters indigenous communities no who can or who should provide these interpreters and again this is a big issue because of the miscommunication of staff and this is something that we are willing to work into but we also indigenous communities need help thank you Vanya I would like to make sure there is no other further questions from the floor I Columbia has the floor yes thank you very much for your presentation and I would like to ask you if you continue in contact with your with the Consulate of Peru or with the Embassy of Peru in order to continue to promote what you've just mentioned about the importance of indigenous population and languages and if you are promoting from the government side too thank you very much thank you so much for that query and yeah generally if I'm not misinterpreting your question it's just basically how I am engaging within these communities nowadays okay so it's just basically like first of all I think everything starts from knowing what's going on because for example maybe you all didn't know a lot of realities that we all share as panelists today so first of all I work on ourness later ourness is not everything this is the first step for me so later on we have to make actions so for example what I am doing nowadays as I said before nowadays I'm living in Dubai and most of my friends or people I knew in Dubai people I work with closely in leadership they didn't know what's going on in Peru I opened their eyes and we are working closely with these communities for example next year I'm planning also to go to these indigenous communities to teach them something because most of us like we don't generally speaking we don't have much education and if you are lucky enough you get to finish elementary school but again you need to ride horses or lambas or donkeys or whatever and a lot of people and children die every single year because of this so I think education should be provided not only as mean to get okay and like just say we are providing education but make it accessible to these people right make them accessible so this is something that I look forward working into next year going back to one of these indigenous communities in Puno specifically in Peru and help them with education which is much needed right and with the expertise and everything that I have learned throughout my short period of life because I am 20 years old I hope to make a difference because I know I'm not going to change the whole reality but if at least I can change the life of one single person I think people are just like candles if you only turn out one candle this one candle can help turn it on more thank you thank thank you Vanya the last question the UK has the floor thank you very much and thank you to all of our partners who have spoken so passionately and so clearly this morning we really welcome your incredible insights to to us all sitting here in council my question I think was specifically to Ms. Milling Smith if I may you mentioned a lot in your testimony about focusing on the role of the diaspora as a bridge and making policy making holistic I was wondering particularly for the UK where we have a large number of diaspora communities can you give any sort of practical examples or steps or best practice about how we could try and harness the the diaspora as agents have changed thank you thanks very much if I may and a very good rounded question the you are right the United Kingdom has quite a depth and breadth of diaspora communities and has a very large Jamaican diaspora community which I am a part of and an aspect or an area that the the government of the United Kingdom can harness the the the strength and potential of the diaspora is to reach out to these these um diaspora hub groups because the intellectual capacity and the the potential of the the diaspora community is vast and for those of us who have made um in this case United Kingdom a part of our our host country um and settled there and are contributing we act as that bridge to um our heritage country and giving you an example of that when we had issues associated with and again um spoke focusing on climate change the hurricanes that occur in um the Caribbean region the understanding and contextualization of the experience of the concerns and real issues can can be obtained and enabled through the diaspora voices and the diaspora communities we we do have experience in in engineering and in economics and therefore have real tangible experiences to link back to the the issue related to our um heritage country or other and in this case other um island states um small island development states the the issue is that there is um a lack of connectivity between the host country and the diaspora community in this regard and um we we have through our diaspora council so we have a Jamaican diaspora council and we use that as a platform of engagement and as I mentioned early on we do have um very strong elected groups in the United Kingdom in Canada and in the US the USA and they do act as the um focal points for both the diaspora community and the uh the state or the government agencies I for one have uh worked with and alongside the fcdo in uh crisis situations associated with um uh climate events and that's just one example and many of my colleagues do operate in various levels throughout um the government departments and agencies within United Kingdom and the aim of that is to one to unlock the um the intellectual capital that exists within the diaspora community um and to to have that galvanized you know within the the solution creation for um issues of um you know bilateral agreements or um looking at policy influence or or even large-scale projects to invoke change and to enable growth and development so these are real tangible um areas where the the diaspora and the the diaspora voices represent so much more because you know we are elected or selected to serve our communities and our host countries so we we do act as a um a source of knowledge in regards to our own countries and um other small island states but also because of our experiences within our host countries um act as a a a conduit or a link between the um heritage and and the host countries on on aspects that um are requiring um change in terms of you know the um the narrative on specific areas of concern and um the uh development issues associated with the um intervention from our host countries so um it is it is in in a period of growth and we certainly would like to see more interaction of or the host countries with the diasporic communities and in particular in the united kingdom that we have um greater um association and conversation to enable change both in country and the communities up and up and down um the united kingdom from as far as as um Elgin in Scotland to the Silly Isles um we we have Jamaican um diaspora so I I hope that provides the context and some background to um support your your question and um I'm quite happy to have further discussions if necessary after thank you thank you Elizabeth um as we conclude allow me just to summarize a bit of the discussions today um noting that we heard today from governments in the voice of Dr. Henry from the CVS on issues related with climate justice and supporting the most vulnerable communities but also on how human mobility is critical to adaptation and to reduction redacting the worst impacts of loss and damage that CVF is committed to working with IOM on such including all the member states we also heard from Vania as a youth representative a very strong and powerful testimony on climate how climate change is impacting individuals and communities in the handings inclusion opportunities and local solutions on our voice are way forward to address the impacts of climate change environmental degradation and migration from Elizabeth we had the opportunity to discuss diaspora understanding how intellectual capital is a resource that can be used to foster growth but also the importance of having policy coherence and overlapping risks understanding to design policies that are offering solutions particular for seeds where a priority needs to priorities need to continue to foster the sustainable development growth in a way that includes the diaspora on the processes of building this growth and we all heard from Christelle on the impacts of disasters compelling people to move and on how the role of migration pathways is critical to ensure that people have opportunities ensuring their participation on policy development and cooperation to achieve this to summer to end IOM continues to be an inclusive diverse and agile organization that has and continues to build strong partnerships and will continue to work with individuals and communities across the world to ensure that we can contribute to address the worst impacts of climate change environmental degradation and disasters without further ado this item is now coming to a close I wish to thank the speakers for this morning and the participants questions and we will now continue with the agenda item 12 in a few moments the general debate will continue thank you so much good morning I think it is still morning and welcome back we will now continue with the general debate again a customary reminder to speakers of the time allocated which is three minutes for member states and one and a half minute for observers to ensure the smooth running of the meeting I would also like to request that all those taking the floor speak at a reasonable pace to allow for accurate translation in particular if delegates are participating online in all cases to ensure accurate and clear translation copies of all statements should be submitted in advance by all delegations to the meetings exterior before the opening of the relevant morning or afternoon section so I now give the floor to Iran the Islamic Republic of Iran you have the floor excellent morning to all colleagues Bismillahirrahmanirrahim Mr Chairperson the negative impact of climate change the consequences of intercontinental military interventions and the global economic crisis have universally aggravated the humanitarian situation and provoked a huge populations involuntary movement across the world the current situation in Afghanistan is is is a testament to how political ambitions of Somwell sea states are leading to new geopolitical challenges and make unprecedented suffering for people in the move in the migrants countries of origin and transit as well as their host communities host communities in developing countries are paying the cost of migration on behalf of developed states who are the last destination of displaced people tackling the humanitarian challenges needs a broad political will mostly by the main actors who made this situation taking a holistic political approach is a prerequisite to the whole of society and the whole of government approach in covering all needs of people on the move in developing countries since multilateralism failed to find a viable solution to international disputes high politics have flowed into the low politics in particular the humanitarian atmosphere by conducting enhanced humanitarian diplomacy we must try our best to prevent humanitarian space from being more contaminated by politics in absence of this holistic approach the financial gap in international humanitarian organizations will be increasingly aggravated and developing countries of transit such as Iran couldn't afford all costs of hosting by their own limited resources anymore Mr. Chairperson the Islamic Republic of Iran as an origin as well as long temporary transit and destination for migrants has done its utmost to provide immigrants with more than necessary services regardless of their legal status Iranian host communities have been sharing their major resources and means of livelihood with migrants for the last four decades not with the standing digits report on the settling trend of humanitarian shock inside Afghanistan the irregular influx of Afghan nationals to the neighboring countries including mine remains shocking we must not let the new humanitarian crisis consign the most prolonged one in oblivion the Islamic Republic of Iran in spite of its narrowed hosting capacity due to the unlawful unilateral coercive measures has not spared any effort to protect displaced persons in particular during and in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic beyond the call of duty some of which I will refer to registration of more than 700,000 students in public schools 380,000 of whom are undocumented Afghans education of 58,000 university students holding literacy courses for 190,000 foreign illiterate students free insurance coverage under a special public health insurance scheme for 157,000 of vulnerable refugees while providing access for all displaced persons to register in the public health insurance scheme implementation of the national of national of nationwide vaccination of foreign national against COVID-19 regardless of their legal status and granting uranium nationality to more than 10,000 children born to uranium mothers and foreign fathers to cope with statelessness Mr. Chairperson my delegation recognizes the IOM's commitment as part and parcel of its professional approach to scaling up its staffing and operations in Iran following the revitalization of the IOM office in Tehran we also acknowledge the additional budget allocated to IOM's projects IOM's projects in Iran while appreciating the generosity of some donors we reiterate the need for implementing policies by IOM to ensure the full realization of the budget alongside the allocation of more funds to meet the least requirements of hosting and managing migration aligned with the statement of the Asia Pacific group we hope that the organization would take effective steps to promote a well balanced and inclusive approach to equitable geographical representation in particular in the senior management allow me to conclude by expressing our commitment to supporting the organization to ensure a fit for purpose organization to rise to the challenges associated with its humanitarian mandate I thank you thank you excellency I have Zambia we have the floor thank you chairperson excellencies distinguished delegates on behalf of the delegation of the Republic of Zambia allow me to join other speakers before me in congratulating your ambassador on your election as chairperson of the bureau my delegation also congratulates you chairperson for the money in which you have so far guided this meeting since we started last week early this week let me also take this opportunity to thank his excellency the director general of the IOM for his very detailed and informative report which gave an overview of the organization's significant achievements in 2022 IOM's role in the various humanitarian situations around the world IOM's work to support capacity building across the globe as well as the IOM's investment in early warning and preparedness in order to anticipate crisis chairperson I wish to align my statement to the statement delivered by the distinguished representative of Nigeria on behalf of the African group allow me also to join others in congratulating Barbados on becoming a member of the international organization for migration chairperson the government of the Republic of Zambia is concerned about the impact of climate induced migration and its effects on livelihoods my delegation believes that practical timely and appropriate measures in migration and climate change will help in the safeguarding of human welfare and consequently the protection of human rights as well as the environment my delegation takes cognizance of the conflict nexus between migration environment and climate change indeed climate change is a multiplier to migration is integrate relationship with development as we all are aware currently is amongst the most pressing challenges that have dominated Africa's social economic development debate in this regard the Zambian government has prioritized the implementation of the national migration policy in line with its national development plans following the development and launch of the national migration profile and the migration governance indicators assessment report the Zambian government decided to develop a national migration policy underpinned by the global compact for safe orderly and regular migration and the African Union and southern African development community model frameworks chairperson in a quest to strengthen national mechanisms for preparedness resilience with response to forced migration and to effectively manage internal migration for social economic development the Zambian government is strengthening the coordination and capacity of institutions to better address forced migration promoting social economic rights of forced migrants promoting institutional coordination on internal migration and strengthening the capacity of local authorities to respond to internal migration among other measures chairperson climate change impacts particularly sudden climate events such as floods and tropical cyclones result in instant displacement of people from affected areas these climatic events undoubtedly affect national budget plans putting pressure on already stretched fiscal space in addressing climate change the government of Zambia is undertaking some measures including the reviewing of the national policy on climate change of 2016 in order to make it responsive to the current situation developing a climate change bill which will provide legal backing for an effective national response to climate change as well as developing a national adaptation plan which will provide long-term adaptation measures to respond to impacts of climate change and many other measures as states we have a mammoth task at hand but with each state doing its part we can all help in managing forced migration occasioned by climate change my delegation is of the firm belief that with serious concerted efforts by all stakeholders concrete solutions can and will be found on climate change and adaptation and resilience measures which will address the challenges that many countries particularly in Africa are facing in concluding I wish to reiterate Zambia's commitment to the IOM permits me to also echo the sentiments by Nigeria on behalf of the African group in commending his excellency Mr. Antonio Vittorino and the entire leadership of the IOM for their efforts towards enhancing the efficiency of IOM in fulfilling the objectives of the global compact for safe orderly and regular migration I thank you for your kind attention and I thank you Zambia thank you very much Jordan you have the floor thank you excellency allow me at the outset to thank the director general for presenting his annual report very detailed and informative one indeed and to congratulate the newly appointed members of the Bureau Jordan would like to align itself and its position to what has been expressed by the Arab and the APG groups Jordan welcomes the selection of this important topic for the high-level segment that addresses the intersection between climate change food security migration and displacement indeed when we talk about carbon imprint water food energy conflict policy law rule of law and how it affects movement and displacement climate change becomes very significant in its consequences and is becoming increasingly dangerous a dangerous reality that needs to be confronted and addressed at both national and international policy level Jordan is among one of the most affected countries in the world by climate change in particular in the water sector area Jordan is one of the most water scarce countries in the world due to the semi-arid climate system and the high temperatures thus the severe pressure on our limited resources exacerbated by the abnormal increase in population growth caused by the massive influx of refugees is the biggest obstacle to economic development and growth in Jordan and affects all of our national policies and plans Jordan is a country of around 11 million people and is hosting three points around 3.6 million refugees the combination of climate change and population growth increased by the influx of those large numbers of refugees are both expected to place further strain on Jordan's scarce resources especially water the u.m. recognized that global refugees and their host countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change to address this crisis Jordan has put forward the climate refugee nexus initiative that was launched by his majesty king Abdullah II during cop 27 that took place in Charmes sheikh lately its purpose is to support host countries that bear the brunt of climate change we welcome and invite the support of all countries to endorse this important initiative but also Jordan's green recovery program goes hand in hand with our economic modernization vision we are making the most of our country's significant solar and wind resources Jordan is a leader in the region in clean energy production with 29 percent of electricity powered by renewables mr. chair climate change is a global scourge that concerns us all and one of the drivers of successful climate action is strong collaboration at the global and regional levels as well as between the public and private sectors in order to target opportunities and align resources and capable capabilities one critical area is financing for developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate negative impacts on displacement and migration finally we would like to commend the IOM for its flexibility and important contributions in response to the pandemic it's not over yet but we're still addressing it and we value all the efforts that all international organizations including IOM has done in this regard thank you very much thank you very much Jordan I have a Salvador you have the floor Salvador please thank you very much chair for giving us the floor first of all the delegation of El Salvador would like to congratulate you on your election and we welcome the other members of this multilateral space we are certain that under your leadership we will achieve significant results on the on migration we also align ourselves with this statement by gruelac and join in congratulating Barbados for their admission as a member my country appreciates the support joint work and financing that the IOM and the director general mr. Antonio Vittorino have offered in the face of the changing dynamics of migration in particular the efforts in tackling the effects of climate on as drivers of migration El Salvador which is a country of origin transit to destination and return considers that human mobility is a right that should be seen as an option and not an obligation therefore our president Naib Bukele has set a priority of providing assistance protection and welfare for Salvadorians whatever the place and migratory status that they are in and we recognize the global compact on migration as an essential mechanism for tackling in tackling migration in a comprehensive and human way as a champion country since January 2020 we have worked with commitment to achieve the actions to protect the dignity and human rights of all migrant populations tackling the structural causes of irregular migration we are concerned by the continuous difficulties facing migrants to access humanitarian assistance in the transit and arrival processes and the needs of the cases of unaccompanied minors and families that are going through reunification and the lack of the application of fair and human treatments instead of detention the government is making great efforts to tackle migration subjects for instance our labor migration program of the foreign affairs ministry between September 21 and August 2022 helped a total of 2,800 workers creating regular migration routes to preserve the life of our population we are also fighting against cross-border organized crime in particular and the crimes related to migration such as the illicit trafficking of migrants and people trafficking the territorial control plan strategy implemented by the government has achieved substantial results to guarantee the security of our population in the presidency the pro-temporary presidency of the regional migration conference El Salvador has promoted the human sense of mobility and on the 29th of November in San Salvador we held the regional consultation meeting on migration with 11 countries participating international organizations civil society and other relevant stakeholders and the aim was to have a space for political and technical dialogue on migration to share information experiences and best practice to conclude we recognize the positive contributions of migrants in particular of young people and women in the development of our countries as well as the contributions received from international organizations civil society and other important stakeholders for our work to achieve safe orderly and regular migration thank you thank you very much um Bulgaria you have the floor distinguished chairperson director general Vitorino distinguished delegates Bulgaria Alliance with the EU statement and the statement made by Ukraine on behalf of a group of countries we know it was concerned that in 2020 to the displacement continues reaching new record levels and state our support to IOM's tireless work to assist those in need we highlight particularly IOM's action in Ukraine and Afghanistan aimed at providing assistance and access to basic services and healthcare support to IDPs and returnees Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine provoked a huge displacement and a humanitarian crisis in Europe and created a deepening foods insecurity worldwide with the continuing targeted destruction of Ukraine's critical civilian infrastructure many tens of thousands and maybe millions of internally displaced persons in the country will need help to get through the coldest months of the upcoming winter it is heartening to hear that IOM is already ramping up its winterization support to help people prepare for what will come we share IOM's approach to meet not only the humanitarian needs but also support sustainable livelihoods and work with the Ukrainian authorities and communities to rebuild and promote community stabilization Bulgaria also appreciates IOM's action in the application of whole of society whole of Syria approach in addressing the humanitarian situation in Syria including provision of services for rapid recovery of local communities child protection and prevention of violence against women we hope that in this regard Bulgaria's voluntary contribution has been helpful for the IOM mission on the ground mental health and psychological support to displaced people and communities affected by war are important part of IOM's work and should be encouraged as well as the continued aid to persons in vulnerable situations especially women children and persons with disabilities climate change and its devastating effects have serious humanitarian consequences in terms of food security welfare of communities and economic security IOM is a unique position to respond to the escalating humanitarian and development needs related to human mobility in the context of natural disasters and we support its work in this regard Bulgaria continues to support the ongoing process of IOM internal reforms we hope that the IOM leadership will use the newly agreed increase of IOM budget for further and better progress in the implementation of the business transformation and the strengthening of the results based management as regards human resources Bulgaria welcomes the tireless efforts and the impressive work of IOM staff to be always on their posts fearless and devoted to their mission we can only encourage IOM's management to strengthen the care for their welfare and mental health we also value IOM as our key partner on the national level in areas such as returning reintegration and integration of foreigners in raising public awareness about migration policies and in efforts to combat human trafficking improving the effectiveness of the return policy of illegal residents is one of the priorities in our migration policy with a clear emphasis on promoting the voluntary nature of this process the support that the IOM is providing us in this respect is of key importance to Bulgaria I thank you and I thank you excellency I now yield a plot to the director general to make some comments thank you so thank you so much Mr chair and good morning to all of you I would like to start by saying in response to the Islamic Republic of Iran that IOM operates in full alignment with the humanitarian principles of independence neutrality and impartiality and we have been scaling up our mission in Tehran precisely because we do recognize that the events that have occurred in Afghanistan represent an extra flow of people towards the Islamic Republic and we appreciate particularly the reforms that have been introduced in Iran by the institution of the national migration agency that is a critical counterpart of IOM in the in the country and we value the need to have a close cooperation in terms of adapting and building the resilience of the communities for the impacts of climate change in the Islamic Republic of Iran and you can count on our support in that respect when it comes to Zambia I would like to express our engagement with the Zambian government in dealing with the the diaspora agenda of the government and we welcome the amendment of the legislation that has allowed dual citizenship in Zambia precisely as a key milestone towards enabling and empowering diaspora nationals as agents of development in the country and from our side you can go on counting on our support and expertise and advice in the revision of your national migration policy as well as the pioneer examples that Zambia has in terms of linking human mobility and trade in the framework of the common market for eastern and southern Africa the Kameza in relation to Jordan I would emphasize once again in this year the generosity of the Jordan authorities to sustain the assistance to refugees particularly to the refugees from Syria and we intend to go on working closely with UNHCR and with the government in Jordan in order to provide the resettlement to those refugees that are in its territory it's particularly relevant for us in Jordan the commitment taken by the Ministry of Health of eliminating tuberculosis as a public health problem in the country by 2030 and including migrants refugees and vulnerable communities in this objective thereby achieving SDG target 3.3 and we cooperate closely with the World Health Organization in this respect in relation to El Salvador's statement I'd like to congratulate them on their leadership during the pro-temporary presidency of the regional migration conference as well as on the adoption of their domestic plan for the national migration plan which is totally linked to the global compact on migration and with the sustainable development goals of the agenda 2030 the representative of El Salvador mentioned the implementation of labor migration programs which we are interested in and of course the fight against people trafficking which requires and deserves our support Ukraine to Bulgaria I would like to emphasize that we praise the decisions taken by the Bulgarian authorities to receive and support Ukrainian refugees in the country particularly the efforts for finding accommodation for them as well as the support that Bulgaria has given us and to our operation in Syria from our side we will go on committed with the voluntary return programs that we implement as well as investing in capacity building to Bulgarian border authorities in view of further strengthening Bulgarian readiness to become a full member of the Schengen border free area thank you so much Mr Chair thank you there is a general thank you I have Paraguay on my list Paraguay at the floor thank you very much chair we would like to congratulate you first of all on your election to this council and we also congratulate the other members of the bureau particular greetings to Antonio Victorino and we thank him for the presentation of his report and to the whole team at the IOM for the preparation in these difficult times Paraguay aligns itself with the statement made by Uruguay on behalf of Grunak chair the director general's report sets out how the complex and diverse nature of human mobility today more than ever needs us to work in a coordinated way so we can find effective sustainable and comprehensive solutions so we can see that the IOM has strengthened its operative capacity and has ensured that there is financial stability which allows it to respond effectively in a timely manner to all these different scenarios my country Paraguay has also learned lessons mainly that from COVID-19 pandemic and we understand that it's need it's necessary to have more agile migratory processes and in line with international treaties and agreements that we have subscribed to therefore we have updated our migratory regulations with a new law which was approved this year the law on migration which was adopted just a month and a half ago this new law allows us to give a greater institutional hierarchy to the general directorate for migration which is becoming a national directorate and depends directly on the president of the republic and it can set out its own regulations and it can generate administer and invest its own resources when it comes to human rights the law sets out principles guarantees and rights that the previous laws didn't cover and it fits with the decree that rules on our policies for migration i'd also like to highlight the solidarity cooperation and coordination that characterize the countries of our region in south america and in particular that is the case in south america where the keto process allows us to respond to the needs of more than 6.8 million people who had left their country in recent years this is something that is of great concern and we very much hope the iom will continue providing its valuable support to the keto process and chair i would like to conclude by repeating our commitment to the principles of independence neutrality humanity and impartiality and where we want to ensure that the human rights of migrants are given to all because the only condition for that should be being human thank you thank you thank you excellency i have Mozambique you have the floor mr chairperson mr director general excellencies ladies and gentlemen thank you mr chairperson for giving me the floor on behalf of the Mozambique delegation i would like to congratulate you ambassador lansana gibry and all members of the bureau for your election and for the excellent manner in which you are even this session mozambique aligns itself with the statement delivered by nigeria on behalf of the african group mr chair my delegation thanks the o.m director general mr antonio vitorino for the presentation of his report and welcome to progress made by the organization we also commend the director general for his leadership and commitment to the noble cause of ensuring a safe orderly and regular migration across the globe beforehand we were warmly welcome to late and welcome the republic of berbedos as the 175 a.m member state mr chairperson this e.m council takes place at a critical moment characterized by multiple crises such as the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic climate change treats to food security terrorism and organized crime which are contributing to a large number of migration flows and forced displacement ladies and gentlemen the combination of consequences caused by the terrorist armed groups in northern mozambique and cyclical natural disasters in the country such as cyclones flouts and droughts emerging from climate change became a great cause for an increasing number of forced displacement in mozambique therefore my delegation calls to the international community for the need to build the resilience through prevention risk reduction adaptation and sustainable mechanisms we take this opportunity to thank e.m for its commendable work in mozambique which contribute to build the resilience for the displaced population and the local communities exposed to multiple vulnerabilities we express our sincere appreciation to the e.m staff in mozambique for their tireless work on the ground to conclude mr chairperson let me assure you that mozambique government is committed to working with i.m as the lead e.m agency on immigration and with all members of the international community to strengthen our cooperation and for the achievement of the global compact for migration goals and other commitments to ensure social and economic integration of migrants thank you mr chair and i thank you excellency brahmadu thank you for the kind words um sudan you have the floor thank you mr chair allow me at the outset to congratulate you to congratulate you and all members of the bureau for your election i would like also to express our heartfelt condolences to the government and people of china on the loss of the former president gian zemin sudan alliance itself with the statement delivered by nigeria on behalf of the african group and by egypt on behalf of the arab group and would like to thank the director general for presenting his report we would like also to express our appreciation to the i.o.m and stable leadership for the leading role in response to the current migration crisis and other humanitarian challenges caused by a number of factors including conflicts climate change and economic difficulties sudan as an active member of the i.o.m was pleased to participate in the high level segment of this council session we would like to strongly encourage the i.o.m and all stakeholders to embark on studying analyzing and planning for implementation of the many excellent ideas and proposals presented in as we believe this would significantly assist in fulfilling the mandate of the i.o.m to manage migration in a safe orderly and regular manner mr chair sudan is a country of origin transit and this nation of migration in addition of being one of the largest hosting countries of refugees in africa has been engaging actively and constructively in all regional and international fora that aim at addressing the negative impacts of climate change on food security and migration in addition as the current chair of agate so that is working terrously to lead and coordinate the regional efforts aimed at addressing the existing challenges in the region including the acute impacts of droughts and flaws on the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the region in this regard we encourage i.o.m and all stakeholders to redouble their efforts in assisting the affected communities in the region to overcome the current food insecurity situation and provide the much needed logistic and technical assistance to establish a strong and effective early warning system in order to prevent their current crisis in the region and build communities resilience in conclusion mr chair sudan would like to reiterate its support to the i.o.m and encourage it to continue working with member states to better respond to the existing migration challenges for both the countries of origin and countries of this nation i thank you thank you so much excellency thank you i have australia thank you very much mr chair for giving me the floor and for those amongst us who have been paying attention this week you will recall that australia's views have been shared with this council twice already first through the age of pacific group statement on wednesday and secondly as a party to the statement delivered by ukraine yesterday in addition the australian minister for home affairs has provided a written statement as a contribution to the high level segment on the intersection between climate change food security migration and displacement and i commend that statement to you as such i intend to limit myself to two substantive issues under this agenda item first is the importance australia places on safe orderly and regular migration migration is central to the australian story today more than 50 percent of australians were either born overseas or have at least one parent who was born overseas and almost every country in the world is represented in our population as the australian foreign minister said when addressing the un general assembly in september when australians look out to the world we see ourselves reflected in it equally the world can see itself reflected in australia successive waves of migration have shaped and influenced the development of a rich multicultural society and the blending of histories and cultures has resulted in a unique australian identity in short migration has been a catalyst for our economic prosperity our diversity and our social vibrancy but managing migration is not a set and forget endeavor which is why as the director general noted in his report on wednesday the australian government is currently reviewing the purpose structure and objectives of australia's migration system when we look at australia's future we see some big challenges confronting us we are transitioning to a climate neutral economy we need to increase our productivity we need to recruit a caring workforce to look after an aging population and we need to build our sovereign capability across a range of sectors as the australian minister for home affairs often says the migration system is not the full answer to any of these challenges but it is a part answer to all of them the review is intended to deliver a migration system that will drive economic growth and resilience while maintaining public confidence in the integrity of the system the second substantive issue i want to touch on is the barley process and 2022 represents the 20th anniversary of the barley process a regular migration exposes vulnerable people to risk of exploitation and physical danger and undermines public confidence in government migration systems for the last 20 years the barley process co-chaired by australia and indonesia has been bringing together 45 member states alongside valued international organization partners including iom to raise awareness in our region of the consequences of people smuggling trafficking in persons and related transnational crime this is in recognition that migration is often a regional phenomenon and that effective responses to migration challenges need to be regional the barley process continues to provide a platform for regular dialogue and capacity building with a view to ensuring migration in our region is safe orderly and regular mr. chair director general australia values its partnership with iom across both of these priorities and more broadly in your support to delivery of australia's migration program and to the delivery of capacity building assistance to critical partners such as puppy new guinea and team or less day as those delegations referenced in their statements earlier in the week in your active participation in the work of the barley process both at the strategic and operational levels and in your thought leadership on issues of migration as demonstrated once again by the high level segment earlier this week australia looks forward to continuing our close and productive partnership for many years to come thank you thank you thank you very much australia i have now tai lan you have the floor please chair person direct general excellencies distinguished delegates i would like to join the others in congratulating chair and the bureau members on the nominations to the meeting tai lan a wealth itself with the statement previously made by distinguished representative of the republic of career on behalf of the asia pacific group we thank the director general for a very comprehensive updates on migration situations around the world and command relentless dedication of iom to provide timely humanitarian assistance to migrants fleeing from conflicts and affecting by disasters climate change or the other crisis we also recognize iom's active roles in promoting the implementation of the global impact on migration and facilitating its review at the iom rf earlier this year tai lan welcomes the agreement reached on iom budget reform with some built-in flexibilities we hope that the increased budget and the improved core structure will enable iom to effectively and efficiently respond to the growing demand for its services enhancing active accountability and oversight of the organization and also ensure that its activities are fully aligned with the interests and needs of countries in which it operates as the host of an iom country mission and a regional office tai lan stands ready to support and facilitate the work of those offices in any way we can including through the conclusion of the new host country agreement that appropriately reflect iom's status as a related agency within the un system as a major destination of migrant workers in south asia tai lan attaches great importance to the enhancement and improvement of regular pathways we recently concluded the revised mo u on labor cooperation with our neighbor countries which are the sources of migrant workers in tai lan together with the resumption of cross border movement this has led to the entry of around 200 000 migrant workers since the beginning of may this year such regularized pathway paves a solid foundation for migrants access to social security and basic services nonetheless health services and education are accessible to all regardless of their migration status as per our policy of universal health coverage and education for all as a friend of the universal health coverage and the gcm champion country we stand ready to share our experiences and cooperate with other countries to further promote the right to health for all including migrants on another front prevention and combating human trafficking and smuggling and victim assistance remain in remain high in our government's agenda in this regard iom has played a role in the development of our national referral mechanism and the operation planned to combat smuggling of migrants as well as in capacity building for officers from relevant agencies we look forward to continuing partnership with iom on issues of mutual interest i thank you thank you tai lan um and now you'll upload to the director general thank you very much chair pertaining to the statement made by the uh his absence embassy of paraguay i'd like to commend the approval of the new migration law which indirectly acknowledges the rights of migrants in accordance with the global compact for safe orderly and regular migration and and it'll open up the way for the implementation of the migratory policy of paraguay which will also have the support of iom moreover in paraguay's case the corporation that we have in strengthening capacity building of the border control posts and we will improve every day the capacities of the midas system and this is an excellent example for many other countries to mozenbeek i would like to express uh my uh appreciation for the decision taken by the government to adopt the policy and strategy for internal displacement management focusing on prevention preparedness and finding durable solutions for us this is extremely important as well as the maputo declaration that was adopted adopted in september 2022 following the initiative of the united nations secretary general to enhance preparedness and set up early warning system of which the president of mozenbeek is a champion in africa indeed mozenbeek is a country particularly eaten by natural disasters and this early warning mechanism and the preparation adaptation and prevention of the impacts of extreme weather events in the population is of utmost importance iom is probably the largest un agency in the north of the country where we work closely with the authorities in order to prevent and support people from conflict and from displacement due to the action of terrorist groups and also due to the events the climatic events and the mozenbeek cannot go on counting with our full engagement in relation to sudan i would like to express my thanks for sudan being a co-signatory of the campala declaration that paved the way to cop 27 on climate change and the forced displacement and we hope that in the championship of the igat sudan will be able to spread the principles and ideas of the campala declaration all over the region i also want to emphasize that we have been working closely with sudan's labor migration policy and we expect it to be adopted in the near future and last but not least we want to join sudan in making an appeal to the donor community to support the development of the triple nexus agenda of the un system in sudan currently arsha's financial tracking service shows us that the sudan humanitarian response plan for 2022 is financed less than 39 as the same time as the needs are on the rise and sudan can count on iom to support these efforts concerning australia i would like to praise the commitment of the australian government to engage in the labor mobility in the pacific region through the pacific australia labor mobility scheme that we support and bringing together the areas of humanitarian assistance and development iom is a particularly appropriate partner in this respect thanks to the extensive and increasing footprint of the organization in the pacific island countries as well we are very much committed to cooperate with australia in the development of its policy review on migration providing a multi-generational migration strategy to the country we have provided our inputs to the evolving migration policy and systems of australia and we look forward to a positive conclusion of the current negotiations of strategic partnership framework between the government of australia and iom and last but not least i would emphasize the role that iom provides the support of the regional consultative process of bali led by australia and indonesia which is one of the most successful regional processes we have known and we congratulate for the 20th anniversary and we expect to be attending the ministerial conference to celebrate this important event in relation to thailand we congratulate thailand for having been upgraded in terms of the u.s. state department's trafficking reports in persons 2022 and for the efforts deployed by the thai the royal thai government to combat human trafficking and protecting the victims and their rights as well as we stand ready to support thailand in the post-covid-19 recovery particularly in guaranteeing universal else coverage to everybody in thailand including the migrant workers as well as we appreciate the resuming of the memorandum of understanding for regular labor migration that has just been mentioned by his excellent cd ambassador with cambodia law people's democratic republic and me and mar and last but not least i would like very much to welcome the announcement made by his excellent their excellent cd ambassador that we will be it will be possible to conclude the host country agreement for iom indeed since 2016 we are part of the un system and having the host country agreement guaranteeing to iom the same privileges and immunities that is that the royal thai government grants to the other when agencies is critical for the operations of our country office in Bangkok and for our regional office for the asia pacific region that is also based in your capital thank you so much thank you digi um i have yemen yeah the floor please thank you mr president yemen aligned to tell for the statement of arab groups and ibg group my president at the outset i would like to congratulate you your excellency on your election as chairman of the council wishing you all the best i am pleased to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to his excellency the director general of iom for his for the report thanks also to the iom secretariat for the reports mayor president this meeting comes and my country yemen is still going through exceptional circumstances because of the wars just bought by the by the hosty tourist militias on the yemeni people which led the country to a complete economic collapse and a catastrophic deterioration in the humanitarian aspects the last of the is the last of was the militia refusal to extend the truce on october 2nd 2022 the hotis is even just refused to enter into peace process when the state they continue to target displaced people migrants oil resources multi-time modifications and neighboring countries this cop is resulted a tragic humanitarian situation where 25 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance the number of displaced yemeni people has risen to five million it is also estimated that the number of yemeni migrants abroad due to this war has rushed two million mr president the republic of yemen is gives the issue of immigration a top priority as yemen is a country of oregon return and transit whereas the statistics of the international organization for immigration will indicate that the proportion of migrants arriving in yemen is through the gulf of adan and red sea is during the first half of 2022 is witness to an increase compared to the last year is given the difficult a condition that yemen is experiencing which has increased the suffer of illegal migrants as they are exploited by the houthi tourist militias and other armed groups is including the fire that engulfed the detention center of illegal migration in san'a is looked under the control of the houthi militias and other violations mr president in voluntary humanitarian return the republic of yemen has signed an agreement in 2021 with the athubian government and the iom to operate a voluntary return light from adan to adi sababa we thanks iom for the commitment and we can assure our full support to facilitate the fill the voluntary humanitarian return in this context we urge the international community to fill level their commitment and provide the support needed when conclusion the republic of yemen reaffirms that the effective solutions for the continued when feelings of refugees and migrants lies in addressing the root causes and strengthening cooperation and coordination with the relevant countries i thank you thank you excellency thank you um i have cyprus here the floor please thank you mr chair and congratulations on your election cyprus aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the european union i wish to express our gratitude to the iom for its enormous work and to director general vitorino for his leadership during this particularly challenging times cyprus shares global concerns on the ever rising number of forcibly displaced persons driven by interlinking reasons such as conflicts the effects of climate change and the enduring negative impact of the covet 19 pandemic the unlawful invasion of ukraine by russia has created the displacement of millions of ukrainians the ensuing energy and exacerbated food insecurity crisis have hit the most vulnerable around the world and will continue force forcing ever more people to flee mr chair cyprus remains a frontline state in terms of facing multifaceted migratory challenges it remains the european union member state with the highest member number of applications for international protection in relation to its population size for the fifth year in a row applicants and beneficiaries of international protection in cyprus amount to six percent of the country's population whilst striving to manage these challenges our capacities are undeniably being tested as we continuously adopt our national policies the corner store corner store of our efforts remains the respect for international law and our e u obligations including respecting the rights of migrants irrespective of their status to this end we have been enhancing our legal framework we have been focusing on capacity building and we have been opening up new avenues for regular migration in cyprus we are stepping up the fight against smugglers and human traffickers within the european union we are committed to the principle of the fair sharing of responsibility and solidarity in all respects of migration management cooperating with countries outside the european union is a critical priority for us with a view to better managing migratory flows in complimenting our national policies the i o m cyprus office runs targeted programs on capacity building for unaccompanied migrant children on a voluntary solidarity mechanism and on assisted voluntary return and reintegration we would like to express our gratitude to the organization for its valuable help last but not least i would like to mention that from the very beginning of the invasion of ukraine cyprus has offered temporary protection to ukrainian refugees receiving tens of thousands of new applications for international protection and per capita has received the second highest number of ukrainians in the e u this past spring i o m's work has and will continue to have an indispensable and positive impact on populations and communities across the world as the challenges of our world and of vulnerable human beings magnify the only answer is that we together strengthen our resolve in attaining a global framework for comprehensive migration management cyprus remains committed to this goal thank you thank you cyprus um columbia we have the floor thank you very much chair and i'd like to congratulate you for your appointment to the chair of this council on behalf of the government of columbia we would like to convey our heartfelt condolences to china and their delegation for the recent passing of the former president yang zemin we'd also like to welcome our badis as a new member of the iom another country in our region of latin america and the caribbean one more member who aligns itself to the framework of this organization's work and our common cause for the rights of migrants columbia also aligns itself for the regional declaration made by gruelac which is given by the ambassador of panama yesterday as a champion country of the global compact on migration we would like to reiterate our active commitment to the rights of the migrant people in reflection of this we're also developing feminist foreign policy which is based on human rights based approach and this will not criminalize the migrant and acknowledges the migrant as the center of policies and actions in the area of migration the full enjoyment of fundamental rights of a person cannot be limited by borders director yourself and the delegations from panama made reference to what is happening in the darien rainforest this is geographic region between columbia and panama who for its geographical location is being used by some people in their passage towards north america this is a tropical rainforest that doesn't have any type of infrastructure for the safe transit of people who are setting out to cross this tropical rainforest or for those who opt to do so by boat to panama in ill-equipped vessels for putting their very lives at risk some of these people are women and young girls who could be vectims of human or sexual trafficking sexual exploitation and different forms of gender based violence and abuses director for the government of the president christ ever put through the upholding and promotion of rights of women and young girls is at the very center of its national and international agenda thus we are calling and urging the international community so that we increase our efforts in the areas of prevention so that women and migrant women and young girls have access to all information that they need they have the assistance support guidance and services which might be necessary in order to avoid that they fall victims to gender-based violence to which they may be exposed by using this irregular pathways to migrate many of these women and young girls take these pathways because they are victims of misinformation they are tricked and swindled by inscrubulous people who promise them that they'll get to their final destination without any hiccups or setbacks which is never certain we must all put a stop to this false information which leads people to take irregular pathways to migrate such as the daryan gap as an example of this director the president cross over petro with the total peace policy hopes to continue to count upon the support of the iom by building and implementing implementing lossing solutions for idps for a number of years we've had the support of the iom and we were sure that we'll continue to receive this support i'd like to take this opportunity to thank the iom for the contribution that it gave us by drafting the chapter on the columbian exile in the truth commission report the truth is that is that was looking for justice reparation and guarantee that we're not repeating the conflicts which we've seen over the years we'd also like to convey a gratitude to the iom for their support and the joint work with the government of columbia and its institutions in its projects for peace and stability female empowerment and reintegration of former soldiers the latter has been done with the support of friendly nations such as sweden the united states and the uk to whom we would like to convey our gratitude director the work for your team has been absolutely critical in the integration of more than 2.4 million venezuela migrants whom we are whom we have welcomed and whom we are giving a regular status the government of the president pedro would like to make further headway on the guarantees to ensure that these migrants migrants can have full enjoyment of their rights in columbia and across the region thus and in order to work together we must base ourselves on the principle of shared responsibility we'd also like to convey our gratitude to the response plan which we saw yesterday in the interior agency coordination platform for refugees and migrants which was launched yesterday which iom is part of with the view to gathering the necessary funding in order to meet the needs of the venezuela migrant population in latin america and caribbean our government is working on the socioeconomic integration of those venezuelans who are in our country and with their support and in the of the support of the international entities we will achieve this and we will also work in conjunction with the bolivarian republic of venezuela in this way we'll also kind upon the support of the iom and the international donor conference which is set for the next first quarter of 2023 the active participation of the international community is critically important for the success in financial resources which allow us to step our efforts in this area in the region to assist those most vulnerable migrants thank you very much chairman thank you uh columbia i have belaris please you have the floor sir director general ladies and gentlemen at the outset i would like to convey my sincere congratulations to you chair and the bureau of the council for your appointment as well as barbados for their accession to the iom would also like to convey our condolences to china for the recent passing of the former president jung sumin it is with great satisfaction that we have welcomed the exhaustive report of the dg on the activities of iom which shows the the importance of these issues which we are dealing with in this organization we support the efforts undertaken by iom in order to implement these activities and to include mobility in the planning development processes of the un in particular set against a backdrop of an unprecedented increase of the number of migrants and idps throughout the world the national level belarus is looking to address migratory issues at the local national and international levels the the sustainable development national strategy to 2030 is in step with the commitments of belarus in the framework of the global compact on migration the strategic guidelines of the state with a view to ensure safe orderly and legal migration are enshrined within legislative documents in development plans and key sectoral policies the country has set up and improved conditions to ensure equal access to migrants to the labour market to education and to medical services into alia the main corporation areas in the framework of the cis the community of independent states and the eec are part of the joint work which stems to eliminate obstacles to migrant population and social protection belarus has been one of the developers of the unified research system working with outboarders and the first digital project in the area of migration in the uu rather as well as a better practice in the areas of recommendation of the migration labor labor workforce we're using simplification to access to legal channels for migration for the workforce through bilateral agreements on migrant worker exchange practices the working area within the country as well as internationally is to combat illegal migration and human trafficking the international training center of training for migration and to combat human trafficking which is set up with the support of the iom in mince regularly ensures the training of experts in this areas from countries in the community of independent states in 2021 the law and order forces of belarus have blocked 10 traffic channels more than 100 crimes in this area were detected we are not we would like to convey a gratitude to the iom who's helped the government agencies to identify the victims of human trafficking more than 200 people including minors and to provide support for their reintegration which has been provided to about 120 people 30 of these have been minors would also like to underscore the joint project with the iom and the ministry of the interior and ngos of belarus which has given a straight line to a safe traveling for working abroad which over the last three years more than 12 000 belarusian citizens and foreigners have received free advice we are interested to continue this project i'd also like to note positively the outcomes of the joint project with iom on strengthening and stepping up tolerance towards migrants and their migration and the implementation of this will come to an end in 2022 to conclude i'd also like to underscore the interest and the commitment of belarus to increase cooperation with iom and the states of origin destination and transit of migrants on a large number of issues pertaining to the assessment of the trends and the challenges in the area of migration cross border cooperation based upon common responsibility of the member states of the un mutual respect of the needs and the problems linked to migration not only will this promote and foster promotion of our national interests but above all it will contribute to minimizing the risks and the minimization of risk and the protection of vulnerable persons preventing preventing the deaths of innocent people victims of a regular and illegal human trafficking thank you very much for your attention thank you um mangulia you have the floor thank you thank you mr. chair it's the outset i would like to thank you to the director general and the deputy director general for their leadership as well as the staff of iom for their hard work and dedication during these uncertain times mr. chair the world is witnessing significant challenges beginning with global pandemic climate change disastrous armed conflicts and large-scale socioeconomic clammities these challenges are causing the restate the effects on migrants and are raising global concern mangulia commands the agility of iom to endure these negative implications so it's continued assistance and support to migrants in these difficult times we where we can find ourselves with increasing danger of food and energy crisis rising prices and geopolitical tensions it's imperative that all countries remain committed to achieving the sustainable development goals and take responsive actions to address a global displacement erasing from climate change environmental degradation conflict and persecution the unique role of iom is the leading uan agency in migration remains to be more critical than ever to tackle and mitigate the negative impacts of these upheavals mr. chair the major shortcomings of both international and internal migration have immense impact on socioeconomic development of mongolia despite the influence of cyber migrants live in mongolia considerable number of people in intra rural and rural to urban migration does not vote well for our further approach to effectively mainstream internal migration into development is the junctions mongolia is confident that the collective step towards budget reform with the adoption of the standing committee resolution number 31 in june was an important decision by memory state in increasing the relevance and values of iom moreover mongolia underlies the critical role of iom in the collective action and the response against climate change environmental degradation in disasters that are reshaping contemporary human mobility patterns mongolia commences the iom's recent report people on the move in a changing climate linking policy evidence and action which provides communities partners governments and uan agencies with guidelines to scale up the implementation of adaptive actions mr. chair mongolia reaffirms our support for the central role of iom in migration and continue working closely in the air hate to overcome challenges and build resilience i thank you mr. chair and i thank you mongolia there's a general you have the floor thank you so much with a knowledge the fact that yemen remains a very difficult operational environment for all the international community and agencies and we see in at the positive light the fact that an agreement has been possible to organize a number of voluntary humanitarian return flights that supported 2500 migrants to return to their country of origin in 2022 but we also noticed that there is an increased number of new arrivals up to the end of october 2022 we have registered 50 000 arrivals in yemen in an environment where there is a tension and conflict and those arrivals those arriving need urgently assistance in line with the humanitarian principles for us yemen cannot be seen separate from the region of the orn of africa and we live to bell to have a joint approach and integrated approach to this region and we will launch our new regional migration response plan early next year but we all know that the situation in yemen can only be solved by establishing sustainable peace and after seven years of war that is critical for the future of the country i want to express to cyprus that we are fully aware that cyprus is on the front line of strong migratory flows 60 of the eastern mediterranean arrivals in 2021 12 350 people were arriving in cyprus and this year by the end of october we have already registered 15 160 arrivals both by land and sea from our side you can go on counting on our support particularly in the improving of the living conditions in the camps and trying to find solutions to accommodate this flow we we expect that the voluntary solidarity mechanism of the european union can provide also support to cyprus we welcome particularly the expansion of the alternative care model of housing and integration for an accompanied migrant children that in which we are working closely with the ministry of social welfare of cyprus in response to colombia first of all i wanted to recognize the very good cooperation when it comes to the registration of the venezuelan citizens who have been displaced to colombia the ambassador his excellency mentioned 2.4 million that register is carried out under the corporation platform that we have with the unhcr and other united nations agencies and we will continue to support the government of colombia in working on the integration assistance and support to venezuelans displaced to their country but as the ambassador said it there are also major concerns for migrants who transit through the country towards the darien jungles in particular the children women and adolescents who are extremely exposed to violence and exploitation i am pleased to hear the support of colombia from president gustavo petro to the climate change agenda the president made a very important statement at the summit in shamel shake and of course we will continue to support plans for total peace in the country and lasting solutions for internally displaced persons as well as working on preventing displacement working on community stabilization and other protection systems that the government of colombia has adopted and you can count on the iom for the organization of the international donor conference along with unhcr and the platform and canada is going to be and the european union will be setting this up at the beginning of next year in response to billa russia i would like to say that we support the actions on the border region to support ukrainian refugees and we are also very committed to finding the best humanitarian response and to continue with our efforts to fight against human trafficking and ensuring there is protection for victims in line with the global compact on safe orderly and regular migration and we will be working with the resident coordinators for the un the migration network in billa russia mongolia i want to express my appreciation for the decision of deploying the displacement tracking metrics of iom in mongolia which is a new ongoing tool for better understanding and analyzing the internal migration in the country and we strongly support you in fully including migrants in the social economic development of mongolia in line with the 2050 mongolia vision thank you so much thank you um there's a general thank you um um honduras the other floor chair director general distinguished delegates on duras would like to thank the director general for his report and aligns itself with the gulag statement today i am here representing the government of our president somara castro the first female president of on duras who has set migration as a human right and a social fact and it is under this approach that we are setting out elements that must be considered when tackling and managing migration currently more than a million hondurans abroad decided to migrate due to the the global economic system in the case of on duras new liberal policies have forced the exit of thousands of our citizens and in addition to the consequences of the pandemic natural disasters climate change the unilateral coercive decisions by the global north and the imposition of measures and sanctions which are economic and blockades on countries such as cuba and venezuela affect transit through our country in the same way new colonialism armed conflict uneven trade coup d'etat and high levels of economic dependence have meant that up until the 25th of november 2022 more than a hundred and 63 000 migrants had entered our territory irregularly and our projections are that in 2023 this number will increase if we don't work on tackling the structural causes of irregular migration we have to stop talking now about migration in a romantic way it is necessary to open the public discussion and look at the management of migration we need to correctly read the causes that are linked to material and historic reasons and directly impact on immigration where the main actors in these processes need to be the migrants and their family members they have to take up this subject which without doubt affects them directly in particular we have to think of women children and adolescents in this context irregular migrant flows in the country has gone beyond the institutional capacities of our state nevertheless we are committed to continue implementing a policy of protection and not of containment or of return that's why we have set out a management strategy at the border which finally has the protection of the migrant throughout the governmental status with a migratory a migration amnesty which excludes them from paying a fines for having entered the country through unauthorized points efforts in this are vital in particular the assistance of civil society international cooperation the united nation systems through the iom and unhcr and we'd like to highlight the support that the iom gave to our national migration institute in building a migration policy document we are committed to achieving the agenda in terms of migration that we can see in the global gcm and the global compact for safe orderly and regular migration and we are making progress along with the regional migration conference the iber american migration authorities network and other bodies we must not criminalize migration in any of its aspects it is a right and not a crime and we need to make greater efforts to fight cross-border organized crime on a regional basis there will not be a reduction in migration flows if the current economic model continues to dominate the agenda of countries in the global south cooperation for an investment will not be enough if we don't review the economic model that currently dominates thank you thank you thank you very much um republic of maldova here the flower please the chairperson director general excellencies and distinguished delegates i'm honored to address the council and to welcome the diligent effort of the iom and its member states to further build up support to effectively respond to the cumulative challenges we are facing we thank the director general for the report presented this wednesday and for the insightful comments made as regards long-term responses the iom and the entire uran migration network are to deliver in the future the republic of maldova appreciates the efforts made and the special role of the iom in coordinating the activities related to the process of ensuring the efficient management of migratory flows at global and regional level the implementation of the measures that contribute in orderly and safe migration of persons on a national note migration remains an important socioeconomic trend for maldova a country with one of the highest total migration rates in the world which lately is noticing a continuous increase of immigration flows as well thus our long-term goal is to address migrations demographic social and macroeconomic effects by tackling the underlining development challenges in multiple sectors and making maldova a better and a safer place along with favoring the unlocking of the migration potential for sustainable development in this regard important measures have been taken as is the adoption of the national development strategy that sets the strategic vision for the development of the country in the next seven years including in areas related to migration and asylum as well as the program for managing the migration flows asylum and integration of foreigners mr chair for the republic of maldova the current session of the iom council comes at a time when our country is facing an unprecedented massive influx of refugees from ukraine energy insecurity economic and social challenges following the act of aggression committed by the russian federation against ukraine and its people since the onset of the war the republic of maldova has received more than 650 000 arrivals from ukraine and over 80 000 refugees have chosen to remain with more than half being children as part of the provisions of the state of emergency instituted in our country maldova has created a legal framework to protect and integrate refugees which also includes access to healthcare education and labor market at the same time a draft government decision on granting temporary protection to refugees from ukraine has been developed and is in the process of being finalized as ukraines continues to be under attack an escalation in missile attacks on civilians and critical energy infrastructure would lead to a new wave of refugees fleeing to maldova with whom ukraine is having the longest western border with our country is preparing to host more in the winter should they need to flee a military escalation or lack of heat electricity and water but this will put additional pressure on already strained budgetary and human capacities we are grateful to the development partners iam and other un agencies which have responded to emerging needs in our country in this crisis as maldova is currently confronting with a twin challenge of high risk of disruption of electricity and gas supply and prohibitive prices for its consumers these could jeopardize our stability and security just in the past year the cost of natural gas went up seven times the cost for electricity increased four times whereas the accessibility of electricity for the population decreased three times under these circumstances with worsened cost of living and being at the forefront of emerging threats as a result of the war smuggling of arms drugs goods and people we need further support to enhance our capabilities on a final note director general vitorino taking this opportunity i would like to express my gratitude for the fruitful cooperation that exists between the republic of maldova and the iam as well as for the valuable assistance offered by the uan migration agency in ensuring that my country advances in embracing the global goal of making migration work for all on another note your visit paid to kishino this spring following the massive flows of refugees is perceived as a great sign of solidarity and empathy towards my country and region for which we personally thank you thank you republic of maldova vietnam we have the floor chairperson director general distinguished delegates i would like to join previous speakers in congratulating you on your election as chairperson of the council and welcoming the baders to the membership of the organization vietnam highly appreciates the role and contribution of the iam as the uan agency in charge of promoting regular safe and orderly international migration and resolving migration challenges since the global compact for safe orderly and regular migration was adopted in december 2018 the iam has strongly extended technical and financial support to member states these important assistance help to promote joy efforts at national regional and global levels and create a safe and transparent migration environment for promoting and protect and protecting the rights and interests of migrant vietnam also highly appreciate the cooperation between the iam and vietnam which has increasingly been strengthened over the years the iam has strongly supported vietnam in carrying out the jcm national plan through many projects particularly the project promoting evidence-based policy making in the context of cross-border migration in vietnam chairperson it is widely observed that as country have better control of the coveted 19 pandemic international migration are accelerating again this phenomenon also comes along with various matters including human trafficking and migrants smuggling with new tactics especially in cyberspace against last context it is crucial for iam member states and the international community to work more closely to resolve the root causes of illegal migration namely poverty crisis climate change and facilitate regular safe and audio migration thanks to the experiences in its response to the coveted 19 vietnam believes that integrating health issue in managing international migration is very important we are pleased to note the growing engagement of member states in the discussion of climate change and the interlinkage between climate change food security and human mobility vietnam believes that urgent actions and comprehensive approach are needed to better protect and promote the right of vulnerable groups including migrants in the context of climate change developing countries especially those particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change need support to enhance their resilience and capacity to tackle climate change impacts on human mobility we look forward to the iam's continued support to member states in improving their capacity in managing international migration and implementing the jcm before concluding my statement i would like to reaffirm vietnam's commitment to work closely with stakeholders in the field of migration as well as implementing the jcm to promote regular safe and orderly international migration protecting the rights and the interests of migrants i thank you mr chairperson thank you very much vietnam um afslovakia the other floor thank you chairman slovakia aligns itself with the statement of the eu delivered earlier today i would like to join others also in thanking the director general for this for his report highlighting the complex challenges of international migration amid highest levels of movement on record we share the concern about the impact of overlapping global crisis related to climate change poverty health emergencies and food insecurity on international migration the delegation of slovakia would like to express our appreciation and full support to iam's important mandate and work including its contribution to fostering international cooperation and coordination on migration issues we thank the organization for its life-saving assistance to reach beneficiaries impacted by emergencies around the world including those impacted by the war in ukraine mr chairman since russia unleashed war on ukraine nine months ago one third of ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes including millions displaced inside the country itself slovakia and neighboring country of 5.4 million people has granted temporary protection to more than 100 000 ukrainians mostly women and children more than a million passed through slovakia to other safe countries after russia's invasion of ukraine iam has been providing assistance to affected persons arriving in slovakia from ukraine here i take the opportunity to thank the iam for all his interventions aid and support in slovakia in connection with this war the slovak government is committed to continue supporting ukrainians in need including to partnership and collaboration with the iam in october the government adopted a new contingency plan to ramp up the capacity of the state to assist refugees arriving in slovakia due to the russian aggression against ukraine covering the period of october 2022 march 2023 mr chairperson we are concerned also about the risks including for migrants associated with irregular migration and the cynical criminal business of human trafficking there has been a sharp increase in the interceptions of undocumented migrants in terms of secondary migratory flows from the previous year the increased migratory pressure opens the question of returns we are looking for possibilities frontex has supported us in our efforts and there is a persistent need for cooperation with countries of transit and origin we are also working with our neighbors and partners regarding regarding illegal migration and people smuggling before closing uh let me welcome the success of the budget reform agreed this year and reiterate out our strong support to further institutional strengthening of the iom chair as has been stressed the global nature of migration calls for effective multilateral cooperation and rest assured that my government will contribute to this to this to its strengthening and being the last speaker between the lunch and and you i would like to comment myself to be and stay within the allocated 33 minutes in my speech i thank you thank you i was looking except for the slight error over the last speaker will be there as a general before i was okay thank you so much mr chair bueno in response to on the rest i wanted to welcome the decision of the president to adopt a migration policy which in each of its phases of implementation will bring greater protection to all migrants as well as the fact that we are working together with the authorities on contingency plans for emergency situations with a strong gender focus so that we can find responses for protection and support to the many migrants who pass through on duras and this highlights the importance of having an integrated regional vision of migratory flows as we heard in the los angeles declaration i want to express my solidarity and my appreciation for the very effective response of the ukrainian of the moldovan authorities to the crisis in ukrainia but above all of the moldovan society indeed the moldovan skeptics borders open i had the opportunity to see how the moldovan border guard was organizing the arrivals of ukrainian migrants and then setting up the green corridor that allows them to depart from the border towards other destinations and as well as the fact that the vast majority of the ukrainians that are in moldova are hosted in private houses but we know that this situation is particularly sensitive due to the burden that represents to the society in moldova confronted with the energy problems and economic and social challenges and that's why i joined my voice to your voice in asking for the support of the donors we are adopting in moldova contingency planning we do not we cannot discard the possibility of having new waves of arrivals due to the harsh winter in ukraine and the situation of the electricity and the energy in the country and we are of course prepositioning the necessary goods in the country and in the neighborhood to cope with such a possible challenge in relation to vietnam i want to start by thanking the support of the government in assisting 303 stranded syria syri lincoln migrants that were rescued at the sea providing humanitarian assistance and protection express our commitment to deploy our data collection activities in order to provide the evidence to improve the counter-traffic national action plan as well as the national implementation plan for the global compact and appreciate the the government of vietnam leadership and commitment to tackle climate change that has a serious impact in the country on a different note i would like to congratulate the vietnamese firm g8 a architects for having won the design competition for the new energy efficient and environmental sustainable iom at quarters building here in jeniva last but not least to slovakia i want to emphasize that we support your decision to provide the temporary protection directive to refugees from ukraine as well as a third country national since the very first days we recognize that there is an increase of irregular migration toward the country and we are ready to support you in terms of a voluntary return and reintegration and we stay committed to a very close cooperation and that is very successful with a scaled up mission that we have now in brattislava thank you so much so i must say that i overpassed two minutes from one o'clock mea culpa thank you um digi uh thank you after all delegations for for the assessments um i'm informed by the security that there are a few more statements to make i i hope not many but i fear that maybe so um so we shall resume uh this afternoon at 3 p.m. and now it's time for all to rush for lunch thank you