 It's a pleasure to welcome you to this session on social cohesion and community resilience countering discrimination and xenophobia against migrants. This panel is happening at a time of increased misinformation and indeed disinformation in the world of communications, especially when it comes to migrants. And earlier today we discussed the important role of women and girls in the COVID-19 response and recovery. Thus we move to this broader perspective covering the challenges that the current atmosphere of increased discrimination and hate speech against migrants bring to social cohesion. The panel will invite speakers from governments both national and local level and from the UN major group for children and youth to discuss ways to reframe the migration narratives and ensure that the fight against xenophobia and discrimination is part of the recovery from the pandemic. All the while being cautious that the fight against xenophobia if handled incorrectly can of course stir up xenophobia. We will also hear from efforts at the local level to implement migrant sensitive local health responses and migrant inclusive socioeconomic recovery efforts that acknowledge the rich contribution of migrants demonstrated in today's earlier today's migrant stories session and yesterday's presentation by Dr. Kamara. For the next hour and 15 minutes we will try to address some of the following questions. We know indeed that the media, or the media as they call it, has a huge impact on public perception. How then can media be sensitized and educated about migration? To ensure accurate and informed reporting and indeed is media simply a reflection of the community from which it comes. What are governments and local authorities doing in this sense to better inform media? At the local level what are some of the examples of migrant planning for the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts that indeed support migrants' resilience and promote above all social cohesion. A couple of more thoughts is that people, as we know, hold diverse and often contradictory attitudes towards migration in the one moment. They can support reductions while recognizing the positive economic and cultural impact of immigration in their country all at the one time. How does that work? We also know that there is something called a movable middle, or indeed a conflicted middle, where there are neither foreign nor against migration. Is this a target audience? Is this the area where we should focus our attention? And indeed attitudes towards immigrants, migrants and immigration tend to be rooted in individual values and worldview. We often hear about data and the contribution and the data-led contribution, but maybe it's got to do with values as well. Can these be shifted or are they relatively fixed? And finally, attempts to shift attitudes should therefore try to understand and engage with these values. These are some thoughts that we have, but we'll be really looking forward to hearing from the panel and having a lively debate. And to that end, I have the absolute pleasure to give the floor and to introduce Mr. Glenn Linder, Director General, International and International Intergovernmental Affairs at Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Mr. Linder is responsible for leading Canada's international and domestic relationships in the area of migration, refugees, and citizenship. He has worked for the Canadian government in different capacities since 1998 in positions such as lead council and oceans, environmental law, Department of Public Safety, Health Labor Program for Employment, and he has served in his current role, excuse me, since 2016. I have great pleasure therefore to welcome Mr. Linder to the session. You have the floor, sir. Good morning. Thank you, Leonard, for that introduction. It's an honour to share this time with you and the other panelists to the session and a pleasure to be speaking to this audience. I'm sorry not to be with you in Geneva. I certainly recognise the room and it looks like there would be space for me there if I could get there. Looking at the current global picture, it's clear that COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on migration worldwide. And in many ways, it's also impacted how the public views migration. On one hand, border restrictions and economic challenges have led to concerns about rising xenophobia and discrimination. Earlier this year, Secretary-General Guterres raised the alarm about a surge in hate speech linked to the pandemic with migrants and refugees among those being stigmatised. On the other side of the spectrum, there is so much positive information and data about the contributions of migrants. Our challenge is to ensure that a light is shined on these positive stories and data while frankly acknowledging the challenges so that our citizens understand the benefits of migration. But why is it so important that our citizens understand the benefits of migration? The most important reason is that migrants build our economy, help address the challenges of having an aging population, fill labour market needs, contribute to innovation and entrepreneurship and boost international trade. How do we know this? In Canada, we've been tracking the outcomes for immigrants and their contributions to our country for over a generation now. So we have the hard data that demonstrate this. Let me share some of that with you. In 2019, the labour market participation rate of recent immigrants, those who've settled in Canada in the last five to 10 years, exceeded that of the Canadian-born population by 10 percentage points. The labour market participation rates of recent immigrants was 76% and for Canadian-born, it was lower, 66%. Similarly, by 2019, the employment rates of recent immigrants exceeded the employment rate of the Canadian-born population by 8.7%. In terms of earnings, we found that overall, immigrant and refugee earnings match the Canadian average about 12 years after their arrival, with some immigrants catching up much more quickly, even some even within their first year here. In fact, immigrants contribute to an educated Canada. In 2019, over 50% of recent immigrants working in Canada had a university degree. Many immigrants have excellent science, technology, engineering and math skills. Although immigrants account for only 20% of the Canadian population, approximately 50% of degree holders in those STEM professions, science, technology, engineering and math, 50% of those are immigrants. These skills are so important to our knowledge economy. The data also shows that immigrants tend to be more entrepreneurial than Canadian-born and have higher rates of business ownership. Immigrants account for 33% of all business owners with paid staff, creating important local jobs in all our sectors, including construction, professional services, healthcare and retail trade. And in our healthcare sector, so important these days, 14% of all jobs are held by immigrants. And immigrant donors are generous to charities as well. Immigrants donate at the same level as Canadian-born individuals to Canadian and international charities. With such compelling data about the benefits of migration, it is important that we keep the faith of our citizens in the migration system so that we continue to have license from them to continue to welcome newcomers to Canada who will contribute to our country. Even without involvement from government, Canadians are made aware of the contributions of migrants through their own lived experiences, their own experiences with immigrants, and through stories they hear. I'll give you an example. Last weekend, one of Canada's largest circulation newspapers published a story on their front page about Syrian refugees who arrived in the Canadian province of Alberta four years ago. Nehima Mohamed and her husband, Mohamed El-Daher, who were farmers in Syria, started growing vegetables in their backyard in the city of Calgary. When they started posting pictures of their vegetables online, a local farmer contacted them and donated some of his land to them. The result is that they now have a thriving vegetable farm and business, and have been able to give back to their community with donations of fresh produce to local food banks. So there you have a story about newcomers contributing to Canada's food security and helping communities tackle the challenges in this COVID context. As a result of the demonstrated benefits of migration, Canadians continue to be in favour of welcoming migrants. A survey conducted by ECOS in August 2020 showed that views on immigration are holding steady despite the pandemic. A majority of Canadians agree that if Canada cuts back on immigration, we won't have the population to support economic growth in the future. And a very recent poll by Enveronics conducted this September showed that 84% of Canadians agree that immigration has a positive impact on our economy. And that's up four points since the pandemic began. That being said, when it comes to public opinion on migration, we cannot afford to be complacent. We know that it's important to acknowledge and address the legitimate concerns that people may have about immigration. That is why the government of Canada created a communications campaign in 2018 called Immigration Matters. The campaign provides stories of individual contributions of migrants in communities across our country. It also provides hard data and evidence on the benefits of migration to encourage balanced conversations, to demonstrate the benefits of immigration at the local level, to dispel common myths, and to promote positive engagement between newcomers and Canadians. In the context of the pandemic, Immigration Matters has started highlighting how immigrants have contributed to the COVID-19 response in Canada and how they play key roles in critical sectors, such as healthcare. If you're interested in learning more, you can find our Immigration Matters webpage by simply Googling immigration matters at Canada. On November the first of this year, as is required under our laws each year, the government will submit our annual immigration plan. That is the number of immigrants we plan to welcome into Canada for the years 2021 to 2023. We'll be, and that'll be submitted to our parliament. The plan specifies the number of immigrants that we plan to welcome by category, economic immigrants, those coming for family reunification and refugees. I fully expect that notwithstanding the pandemic, Canada will continue to want to welcome migrants to develop our economy, boost our innovation, reunite families, help those in need of protection and contributes to our social fabric, as we did before the pandemic. I wanna take this opportunity to mention to you work that Canada is doing to promote more balanced narratives on the international stage as well, in a way that's consistent with what we're doing at home. Earlier this year, Canada became a global compact for migration champion country. In this role, one of our priorities is to promote balanced and evidence-based narratives on migration. We believe that it's important to elevate the discussion on migration narratives internationally, and also to foster real collaboration in this space. Many of you may be familiar with the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the GFMD, which is a forum that brings together governments at all levels, business and civil society, to discuss challenges and successions at the intersection of migration and development. Within this forum, earlier this year, Canada, along with Ecuador and representatives of local authorities that formed the mayor's mechanism, created a new working group on public narratives on migration. While this working group will be moving forward on a number of projects over the coming year, one I want to share with you in particular today is the creation of a global communications campaign to showcase the positive impact of migration. The campaign will engage diverse stakeholders in sharing stories and messages about migration online in a way that resonates in their own communities. Given the current context, this will include a focus on showing how migrants are helping communities to build back better from COVID-19. The focus on stakeholders from business, communities, and municipalities is a key part of what makes the campaign unique. The message from governments on all kinds of subjects is not always trusted, unfortunately, as we know. But when the message comes from trusted messengers, our hope is that the campaign will reach beyond audiences that are already supportive of migration and help to change perspectives more broadly. The IOM is a key partner in this initiative and will help us create the creative content of this digital toolkit that can be customized and repurposed by participants on social media. We recognize that launching the campaign is a very ambitious project. However, we also believe that by focusing our efforts on concrete initiatives such as this, we have a unique opportunity to shift the narrative about migration. The campaign is a key action that we can take collectively to make a tangible impact on migration narratives worldwide. To achieve this, we'll be looking to all of you to take part in the campaign by sharing content, engaging others in your network, and amplifying the campaign's reach globally. Over the coming months, more information will be made available as we continue to develop the campaign. We look forward to sharing these additional details with you and working together on this exciting new project. Thank you once again for the opportunity to speak today and I'll now turn the floor back to you, Leonard. Thank you so much, Mr. Linder, for that really magisterial overview. So many questions came up in my mind and as I'm listening to you, you then answer them in the next sentence, which is terrific and very helpful. And thank you especially for mentioning the initiative of the GFMD to address this issue of how are we going to shift the narrative or how can we shift the narrative? Can we indeed, is it our place to do so? But we will gamely try with this campaign which you outlined. One question which remains in my mind and to be addressed now or later at the end of the session is facts are facts and we know what facts are and you outlined very stimulating and interesting facts. But when people live within a bubble of social media where they sort of believe what they see and they see what they recently saw and maybe worse to the algorithms of negativity, how do we break outside that so that they hear the true story and that they take on board the actual story of the contribution of migrants? Perhaps we'll leave that until the end but I'll leave it there for people to think about. May I now introduce Mr. Ulvi Aliyev who is the Chief of the International Cooperation Department of the State Migration Service in Azerbaijan. Welcome Mr. Aliyev, you have the floor. Thank you, thank you, Mr. Dolal. I hope you can hear me. Good afternoon, everyone. And I'd like to say that I'm honored to be one of this panel on developing myself with this opportunity. I would like to express sincere appreciation to IWAM for their role and activity of the organization became increasingly crucial in supporting vulnerable migrants and member states to overcome consequences of the coronavirus pandemic during these challenging times. The COVID-19 and the challenges faced by the world countries as a result of this pandemic as well as restrictions it caused on daily lives of people are among the most discussed and addressed topics recently. As an infection spreading mostly through human to human contact, the COVID-19 urged states to take preventive measures such as national isolation, travel restrictions, closure of borders and application of social distancing rules in order to protect from the virus. As a result, mobility and migration in the world became one of the areas affected severely by the pandemic along with health and economy. A standstill position of mobility and migration as main catalyst of economic development in the world as well as restriction measures of movement is going to have inevitable short and long-term effects. If during the first months of COVID-19 as pandemic situation was being discussed in the world, currently life and economy parallel to pandemic is the topic of all discussions. Fine tuning all our activities in accordance with social distancing requirements and restrictions of movement addressing needs of people restoring economic dynamics requires application of new approaches and innovative solutions. These approaches and solutions should cover every aspect of migration management in order to pursue inclusive policies that make sure no one is left behind. In order to have a proper response mechanisms, several components should be taken into account when adjusting policies and strategies with crisis situations and in our case with COVID-19. First of all, legislative and institutional frameworks that's able to cope with the sudden emergencies should be already in place. Taking this into account, one of the key priorities in governance of international migration in our country in Azerbaijan is in the future adoption and implementation of the National Strategy on Migration and this strategy envisages to serve as a roadmap in effective management of migration in the country by establishing and improving relevant policies providing protection of migrants' human rights and also the implementation of 23 objectives and 10 guiding principles laid down in the global compact on migration. And I would like to note that this paper also exclusively includes preparation of program related with management of migration in emergency situations. In order to turn the words into action, we need to have capable executive systems which rely on cutting edge IT solutions adapts changing environments. And in this regards, Azerbaijan build its migration policy on maximum convenience of migrants reducing administrative procedures to the possible extent and almost close to zero and digitalization. After the restrictions on transportation of passengers by all means between Azerbaijan and other states was applied, especially with neighboring states we kept the borders open under special conditions for the crossing of the nationals of those states while other states organize some charter flights. During this period, temporary staying period of migrants into country who didn't want to go back to their condors due to various reasons including as these lockdowns and restrictions was extended out until the borders will be opened and no additional document was required for this. And the main purpose of these actions are truly extend the protection mechanism of the government towards all migrants regardless of their stocks present in the country. The most effective way of implementing legalization measures between the social distancing rules and special quarantine regime is application of online services. Indeed, in our experience, one of the natural consequences of the COVID-19 period was rapid increase on demand to e-services and emergence of need to further facilitate this process. From the first days of the pandemic we kept an eye on measures towards increasing the number of rendered e-services, updating them and ensure the implementation of all required services online during this period. These issues bring up another important component which we think is the awareness raising. As you know, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in its recommendations on the human rights of migrants during the COVID-19 period which was published on April of this year emphasized the importance of awareness raising in all areas. During the COVID-19, it's especially important for migrants to be regularly informed in different languages about the prevalence of the pandemic in the country as well as the movement between the requirements of the special quarantine regime. Various awareness raising tools, video instructions were developed for persons who faced difficulties in using the e-services. And furthermore, those persons and then migrants were able to contact the call center of our service, our entity which was operating in all stop in three languages. Also, there were special conditions for in order to apply to the service via social networks, for instance, which you know that nowadays are the trends in the globalizing world. It's also possible, another point of the digitalization is that we have developed a special application, mobile application, which also enables access to our services by migrants. During the spirit, the state migration service regularly disseminated information in each issue that was related to the status of migrants as well as the restriction of movements through all possible means of awareness and racing. And as an integral part of inclusive migration management with whole of society approach, we believe introduction of new ideas and innovative methods, sharing of best practices and achievements couldn't be possible without partnerships. To this end, the state migration service has developed structured dialogue mechanisms with relevant stakeholders of migration and beat international organizations through various platforms, be it civil society organizing through public council or beat private sector advisory board. Well, in a larger extent, these structured dialogues aims to increase roles of various segments of society on formation of migration policy as well as to ensure their direct participation in the management of migration processes. Also, several social assistance projects were carried out in partnership with these structures in order to support migrants suffering from the outcomes of the COVID-19. And I would like to emphasize that these social assistance projects also targeted extensively categories of vulnerable migrants such as refugees, asylum seekers and stranded migrants as well as in order for them not to really much suffer or let's say ease the pain of the outcomes of the COVID-19 which was imposed on them. And we also highly appreciate our close cooperation with our international partners in this sphere such as IOM, UNHCR and many others. And when it comes to cooperation, as I mentioned with international partners, we also closely cooperate with other United Nations relevant bodies and we highly appreciate through these all challenging times the reports and the recommendations on the implementation of the rights and freedoms of migrants as well as international instruments which was developed by these organizations. Also, during this period, close cooperation with the International Organization for Migration continued. IOM shared with us important policy documents, information and guidelines, which also kind of was a really helping tool on developing road maps in order to minimize the negative effects of the COVID-19 in migration management. And also I would like to note that recently we are implementing, we are also prospering in a regional project which targets the, which helps and assists the vulnerable migrants, standard migrants in the Caucasus region area countries and for them to much easily to pass on this period and to let's say is the burden which is on them considering the current situation. Meanwhile, under the overall outcome of promoting migrant inclusive response to COVID-19 and assisting migrants in vulnerable situation. And as I mentioned, we are also not just cooperating with IOM and we have also had some several projects which involved civil society organizations and private state sectors taking into account as these parties are also the stakeholders of the migration processes. And in conclusion, as a representative of multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, I would like to note that multiculturalism and diversity should be at the center of attention at all levels of policymaking and planning by protecting the legitimate interests of persons belonging to minorities as well. In the spirit of traditional tolerance and harmonical existence of different groups, the quote of all citizens without any ethnic religious or linguistic definitions should be guaranteed by the law. Only with these in hand, we can talk about effective fight against discrimination and xenophobia. Last but not least, we should focus on eliminating the root cause of these phenomenon and express solidarity for joint action. And one of the root causes is conflicts in global hotspots which lead to forced displacement. This in turn, deprive people from their homes and expose them more to human rights violation, discrimination and xenophobia by making them vulnerable. And I thank you and pass the floor to our moderator, Mr. Doyle. Thank you. Thank you so much for that very stimulating contribution, Mr. Aliyev. I particularly liked your phrase, words into action as you described, the reduction in administrative procedures, the awareness raising and the focus on the root causes. Let me keep moving swiftly on to introduce Mr. Robinson Sathage. I hope I've pronounced it right. It is with great pleasure that I introduce Mr. Robinson, who's currently working as the head of the Migration Subunit at the city of Johannesburg, Social Development Department, where he is overseeing, among other initiatives, combating xenophobia, promoting social cohesion and integration of migrants into local communities. Previously, Mr. Sathage covered South Africa's Immigration and Civic Affairs in India and Iran. He joined the Department of Home Affairs in 1998. Mr. Sathage, South Africa has a particularly, a particular view, a particular experience in dealing with the issue of migration. I'm sure your insights will be listened to very carefully and we appreciate you joining us today. Welcome and you have the floor. Thank you so much, Mr. Mordorator. And good afternoon to everyone. It is indeed a pleasure to address this platform and thank you for the organizers for this opportunity. I hope I'm audible enough. The city of Johannesburg, you know, as a way of background, has over a number of years sustained an interest in the issue of social cohesion and incorporated it into its planning. The Joe Beck 2040 Growth and Development Strategy acknowledges that as the largest metropolitan center, Johannesburg has become increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan. Migrants, both national and cross border, are making Johannesburg their home, adding to the already culturally diverse and plural city. As such, issues of social cohesion and inclusion have become more pertinent, as Joe Beck strives to fully benefit from the unique blend of its people. While a great deal of xenophobia went largely unnoticed by broader society, it became impossible to ignore with outbreaks of violence targeting foreigners in 2008, as you might be aware. Incognition of the policy gap and the responsibility to deliver services at local level and deal with the challenges presented by migration into the city, particularly that of foreign nationals. The city of Johannesburg Council has approved a number of strategies to enable it to play a proactive role in managing migration in the city. The first strategy was the human development one that was approved in 2004, which gave an expression to the city's intent to address the challenges of social exclusion. One of the key integrated development plans for the 2005 up till 2011 was the counter xenophobia and common citizenship program coming out of the long-term goal that sought to ensure that social exclusion is addressed through the building of prospects and social inclusion amongst all Johannesburg communities. Now, in 2007, the migrant health strategy was approved, which amongst others developed an advisory committee of non-governmental groups working with and representing cross-border migrants to advise the city with working groups proposing ways to resolve major challenges experienced by migrants. This then developed into the Johannesburg Migration Advisory Panel, which continues now to convene on a monthly basis. Subsequently, the migration mayoral subcommittee was established in 2008, which was then followed by the Johannesburg Migration Advisory Council in 2009, so we need to coordinate city efforts to address the challenges of migration comprehensively. Now, the migrant health test was created in order to provide advocacy, advisory, and referral services. We are not doing department of home affairs duties. We are not issuing documents, et cetera, et cetera. The actions are based on all sorts of challenges facing migrants. The City of Johannesburg Council approved the policy on integration of migrants in March 2011. The aim of the policy is to facilitate the integration of migrants to a level where they have similar participation patterns to the non-immigrant citizens in community structures. Fulfillment of city duties contribute to the economic, cultural, and religious social life system in Johannesburg. This policy is guided by national legislation, which is the Refugee Act and the Migration Act. So the policy in itself is just to assist migrants to integrate into the communities because by and large we don't have refugee camps. Now, when it comes to social cohesion, understanding social cohesion is not only a matter of combating social exclusion and poverty, but creating solidarity in society such that exclusion will be minimized. At the same time, in so far as poverty and exclusion continue to exist, there is also a need to take specific measures to help vulnerable members of society. The City of Johannesburg has identified a need within the municipality in terms of the policy of guiding principles which relate to social cohesion. A crucial point for the city in this respect is better understanding of the social composition of Johannesburg and the attitudes of residents of Johannesburg to social diversity. Social differences are experienced in generally positive terms with people learning one another's languages, taking an interest in one another's cultures and building communities, friendships, and indeed families which incorporate social difference. In addition, other kinds of social intolerance and bias shape our social landscape including class prejudice, sexism, xenophobia, religious intolerance, ethnic tensions, intolerance of people with disabilities and diseases, intolerance towards internal migrants. Now, turning the focus on discrimination and xenophobia against migrants, the migrant help desk is facilitating counter xenophobia initiatives to build tolerance between migrants and locals. This includes the intersectional collaboration with stakeholders to advance social cohesion and the integration of migrants in the city. Counter xenophobia dialogues and trainings, human rights workshops, human trafficking workshops are conducted in the identified high risk areas throughout the city with the aim of changing perceptions of communities towards cross border migrants. The aim is also to promote tolerance and understanding amongst cross border migrants in local communities and build social cohesion. It is vital to acknowledge challenges of poverty, inequality under development, and unemployment as common national problems. Gender equality and gender-based violence pose a risk and therefore there is a need for mainstreaming of gender equality to include measures to fight violence against women. Most women have challenges with mixed marriages and children being undocumented. Many communities are struggling with social assistance and due to age group, they are unable to find employment. There is a concern over the current worrying situation of human trafficking, especially young women, local and migrants who are promised jobs in South Africa. The challenge is that more people are waking under horrible conditions and do not know their rights. Others have their documents kept by their recruiting agencies. Many domestic workers do not have proper documentation and this leads to abuse and exploitation. This also includes child labor. There is also a challenge with the spiraling migrants' parser shops within communities. So communities feel that if these parser shops are not properly regulated, they will lead to more criminal activities and more xenophobic tendencies and violence will be experienced. Now, what was the impact of COVID-19 on immigrants? We recognize the fact that the importance of including migrants and refugees as vulnerable groups, it is necessary to establish the means of socioeconomic support for them to prevent human suffering during the pandemic. And this can be done in partnership with all spheres of government, that from local to national. The private sector will play a role civil society, communities and individuals. This will also assist to provide for a durable recovery in the post-crisis environment. Now, just for information, Statistics South Africa has released the third and final round of a series of three online web-based surveys to measure the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on individuals in the country. This round of survey focused on migration and education issues for persons residing in South Africa who are 18 years and older. The survey aimed to provide information that could be used by government and other service providers to better understand the impact of the pandemic on migration and education and to devise interventions to assist the population. According to the survey, more than 20% of migrant respondents indicated that they did not send remittances during lockdown because they could not afford to send money. The results show that generally migrant respondents were more vulnerable than non-migrant respondents. The much higher percentage of migrant respondents about 22.5% were unemployed as compared to non-migrants, which is just 9%. Findings from the report emphasizes the important role of mobility and migration on the South African economy during the national lockdown. As a way forward and in conclusion, while in responding to challenges, the city in collaboration with various stakeholders endeavors to amongst others organize workshops that will bring together all nationalities for discussions on issues affecting them in South Africa and their respective countries. We'll also collaborate with departments of health, social development, home affairs, and other bodies where possible that they put more effort in attending to issues that relate to medication, food, shelter, and asylum papers for refugees and asylum seekers. We'll organize workshops on understanding discrimination and xenophobic attitudes and developing good practices for effective management of diversity and understanding human rights. The communities must be encouraged not to take the law into their hands and also to participate in the community activities so that it will be easy to escalate such challenges to relevant departments. So that is basically what we envisage as the city of Johannesburg and I thank you back to the moderator. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Mr. Sathiga, for that fascinating presentation and in its detail, I must say I found terrific insights into how cities are to some extent the secret when it comes to countering discrimination and xenophobia. It's in cities where the rubber hits the road and South Africa and Johannesburg in particular has a lot to teach the rest of the world and I hope you will be sharing some of the experience with the aforementioned GFMD-led campaign on changing the narratives because you surely have much to contribute. May at this point introduce the next speaker. It is a pleasure to welcome today Monica Trios Padilla, North American regional focal point and shaping the narratives lead of the migration group, the UN major group for children and youth. Monica, since 2016, she's became the youth associate of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations and in 2020, she became part of the youth board of directors. Currently she is working at El Autro Lado, a binational social justice legal services organization serving deportees, migrants and refugees in Tijuana on the border with the United States. Welcome, please, so you can tell us about the role of the UN major group for children and youth and your discussion on narratives in migration and how COVID and the youth have shaped these narratives. The floor is yours, Monica. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, first of all, I want to thank IOM for the invitation and for considering youth in this very important conversation. It is a pleasure to be in the 2020 International Dialogue on Migration and I'm very happy to be and share this table with all of these speakers. First, I want to speak about for all of those who don't know the United Nations Migration Group for Children and Youth. Well, that group is the official formal and self-organized space for youth and children mandated by the United Nations General Assembly. And our main mission is to be a bridge between children and youth with the UN system in order to guarantee the right to participation in school fields in a meaningful way. So we have the Migration Working Group that directs our commitment to the global combat and migration process. So to start this, I want to give a brief overview of youth and how we consider that youth is a stakeholder with a unique capacities to ensure safe, regular and orderly immigration around the world. On the one hand, before COVID-19, we have seen how young people were increasingly migrating in search of security, better opportunities, education and protection, as well as being from conflict, discrimination and natural disasters, which we really will be exacerbated or continue with the pandemic or not. According to the latest statistics in 2019, 38 million international migrants were under 20 years of age, which is equivalent to 40% of global migrant population. In addition to this, one in three international migrants are under 30 and one in two refugees are under 18. So we have to keep in mind that young migrants and refugees have specific vulnerabilities and needs. Childhood and adolescence and youth are crucial phases of human development in which there is a transit between dependency in childhood and independence in adulthood. So it is a very important period for a person's development and can have long-term lasting effects on someone's life. So a successful inclusion during this period can drive young migrants and a positive staff and contribute to host communities in many different ways. This requires actions to secure access to basic services, but also to create the conditions for a comprehensive integration of migrants. Complete approaches will allow them to develop while safeguarding their human rights with a positive effect of shaping proper, diverse, inclusive and cohesive societies. We think that these approaches are most effective when there is a migration context and when they are designed to address specific populations and taking into consideration factors like age, gender, time to stay, qualifications, needs, et cetera. At the same time, strategies have been developed in host communities to strengthen social cohesion and inclusion, to fight stereotypes and to shape positive narratives that counter discrimination and xenophobia. We believe that from our perspective, migration and displacement have become ever more urgent political issues in recent years and that we're living at contexts where public attitudes toward migration have become deeply polarized, nationalist discourses have increased in different countries and within the current context of COVID-19 and migration policy changes have been adopted. We have seen positive but also negative perspectives that range from waves of attacks, speeches and publication of openly discriminatory and xenophobic nature against migrants and refugees. In this specific context, it is more important than ever that we understand public narratives and public attitudes towards refugees and migrants within the host communities. We believe as Ioann says that language is inherently political and that the narrative should stop being enough versus them and that we have to emphasize the community, the commonalities and not the division. Terminology must be based on principles of non-discrimination and equity rather than criminalization and negative connotation. We understand that narratives directly affect the lives of migrants and the policies that can be made to address their principal needs. We know that there are different drivers of public attitudes, like politics, like how, as you mentioned before, the media and the social media affect the perspectives of how migrants are perceived. And also we understand that there are real-world concerns and that public attitudes are rooted in real-world impact. We have seen, you have mentioned the impact that COVID-19 has had and how it has changed the world and we have seen how migrants have been accused of spreading the disease, the economic impact, the migration narratives in a world where there is strict control of movement. We have seen increasing discrimination and xenophobia, but we have also seen critical dependence on migrants and what they do, the skills they have and what they can contribute to communities with collective solidarity. So we think that the combination of what's happening right now can threaten a lot and exacerbate what's happening and it has been exacerbated. So we believe that youth is a central key player and it has a central role in shaping the narrative. And we have been doing some actions before and during this pandemic of advocacy, information sharing, contributing to other groups or sharing information about shaping narratives in social media, inviting different young groups to write their experiences and their perspectives. So we would like to strengthen multilateralism and renew commitments to democratic values, human rights and health equity. Also, we believe that the great label of migrants follow them throughout their journey and beyond, but young migrants are more than a label. They are agents of changing their communities and have powerful stories to tell about how they make a difference. So it is time to move beyond narratives that promote binaries to those that promote unity. We need to promote inclusive and humanizing narratives. Youth has a key role to make this and as we can link different generations and be a bridge between local communities and newcomers. We at UNMSGCY have worked on the issue recognizing the importance of understanding public convenience and the transformation of public narratives and migration. We believe that there is a need to address one dimension of perspective on migration and we believe that we need to understand the more the reasons of migration. Also, we have to see migrants as more than a collective group. Instead, they are a group of individuals each with a unique reason for moving. Also, we believe that we need better data and public attitudes and the collection of stories about children and young people is crucial to create innovative content where online tools such as social networks can play a fundamental role. It is vital to ensure that data and stories are easily accessible and understood by the target audience. We believe also that storytelling has a unique ability to illustrate the common experiences and the values of migrants allowing their perspectives to become a tangible reality for the general public. We have had different round tables discussing what are the youth priorities and also the activities that are already being on the move and making them possible for young migrants. We have acknowledged that there is a need to change and also that we need to include migrants in these conversations. After the GFMD, we were honored to be invited also in the Migration Narratives Working Group and collaborating with the different stakeholders and the government of Canada in the different initiatives. Throughout this year, we have also developed a campaign focused on youth called the Modern Migrants Campaign. We aim to reshape the current global and local narratives on migration by giving migrant youth the lead role. We have created a platform for them to share their unique and valuable stories connected to migration and for youth to be the leaders of a different narrative. We have been collecting different stories to share them with the public and to create some impact on different societies. We believe that we have to emphasize the commonality and shape values to universal languages. We also believe that there has to be more community engagement. And finally, we have to make awareness to education. So we have different recommendations of what else can be done and what have youths have been doing and also we will continue doing. We need that we have to shape the narrative and change also our own language and our way of communicating. We also have to get to know who our audience is. We have to appeal to the values and the evidence may not be enough, the facts may not be enough. That's why we believe we have to meet it with storytelling and migrant perspective. We have also need to give a space and public spaces for the interaction between host communities and migrants. Even this is not possible now. We have to look for other alternatives. Also we believe that these places are the best and that we should continue enhancing strict collaboration between youth, civil society and national and local governments. Also private sector and also in both the media as they have a great say in this particular issue. Just to close up with young people at the center of global migration challenges, it is imperative that youth in origin, transit and destination communities are well equipped and given the space to meaningfully engage in policy and decision making in local, national and global level. So I firmly believe that youth have the fundamental word to play in reshaping future debates about migration. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ms. Padilla for that extremely comprehensive overview. Fascinating in its insights, especially coming from the youth perspective. The future is indeed youth. I will move on now to perhaps a deeper dive or a more engaged dive into the topics that have been so wonderfully presented to us today by opening the floor for a debate. So let me first turn to the ambassador of Venezuela who informs us that he has to leave shortly. So I'll give the floor to you, the ambassador of Venezuela. Para tener los problemas que causan la xenofobia. In order to deal with the problems that have caused xenophobia and discrimination, the Bolivarian revolution created in 2017 the constitutional law against hatred for peaceful coexistence and tolerance. And this aims to contribute to the generation of the necessary conditions to promote and guarantee the recognition of diversity, tolerance and reciprocal respect as well as preventing and eradicating all forms of hatred, discrimination, violence and to ensure the effective respect of human rights. This law sets out the preventive measures, training and educational programs to broadcast of values and messages and raise awareness of the development action and programs for legal and social assistance. And it provides psychotherapeutic aid and other help for health. The law aims to contribute amongst others to reformulate rhetoric again on migration in positive aspects and to fight racism and xenophobia. A group of 850 migrant persons from the indigenous of Venezuela and community called Ubanoco were removed violently from the city of Boa Vista by the Brazilian government, Brazilian army. And this is a result of a xenophobic campaign driven by the government of Jair Bolsonaro who has violated the human rights of this indigenous community. And last on Friday, the 4th of September in the municipality of Aua Chica in the department of César in Colombia, three Venezuelan citizens were riddled with bullets. Among those who lost their lives, there was a young woman of 23 who was pregnant of five months and a adolescent of 17 and a young man of 26. The figures that are provided by the Forensic Institute in Colombia for the year 2018 shows that more than 258 Venezuelans were assassinated. In 2019, the number grew to 601 and up until May 2020, we had seen 156 deaths. These data proves the desperate situations to which the Venezuelan migrants are exposed in some countries on the continent. So we call on countries to create and put into practice policies and legal frameworks that condemn and fight against discrimination and xenophobia. Thank you. Thank you very much for that contribution. May I now turn to His Excellency Ambassador Michael Gaffey of Ireland for your intervention. Thank you. Thank you very much, chair, and thank you to the panelists for their very, very insightful contributions. As has been said, this is a subject which has become particularly relevant this year during the COVID pandemic. And I'm afraid we have seen in some places a rise in a pernicious rhetoric that exploits fears about migration and tires migrants as people who not only as it were take jobs, but also spread disease. Whereas the reality is that migrants are all too often the bedrock of our societies, frontline workers and essential staff who make it possible for COVID restrictions to be managed and for public health battles to be fought and won. This is the case in my country and in most European countries. Now, one of the most important tools we have in our collective efforts to counter discrimination and xenophobia is a vibrant and principled media that understands, records, and represents the realities of migration in a way that reflects the realities for migrants as well as countries of origin, transit, and destination. It's essential that global conversations on migration are well informed, accurate, and relevant as aimed for in the global compact of migration. And this is why Ireland is working with the IOM on the establishment of a global migration media academy. Chair, for most of Ireland's modern history, we have been a country of net emigration resulting in a diaspora now of over 70 million people from an island with a current population north and south of just seven million. Over the years, the tone of prevailing public narratives and conventional wisdoms often determined the way in which Irish immigrants were received, welcomed, and integrated into different societies around the world and many had negative experiences. In the last 30 years, however, the narrative has evolved from self-identifying exclusively as a country of emigration with immigrants from mittens as an element in our national accounts. Our society has been greatly enriched by the arrival of migrants from all over the world. 17% of our population has been born outside the country. Membership of the European Union, the increasing globalization of our economy, and the revolution and connectivity have made Ireland a multicultural society and the arrival of new migrants from a range of regions and countries is helping reshape our own conceptions of our society. This has brought new challenges and new conversations about how to welcome and integrate new arrivals in what was until recently a notably homogeneous society. Development of the narrative around these issues is shaped by and involves our education system, mainstream and social media, political discourse, private sector activity, and the role of the civil and public service in engaging society. And it is rooted in this experience that Ireland and the International Organization for Migration have started working together on the Global Migration Media Academy. The academy, when it is launched, will aim to provide training to media professionals globally in order to prepare them better to promote a more accurate of narrative on migration and counter false narratives. The pandemic and the infodemic associated with it have highlighted further the need for engagement in this area. We have begun the discussions and we will look forward to sharing more information in due course and to working with the IOM and other partners on this in the coming period. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ambassador. And if I may, since I'm with the media team who's working carefully with you on this, just really give a huge vote of thanks for the support that has come from the Government of Ireland for this new initiative of a Global Migration Media Academy, which will initially be in five countries around the world, which will above all help students of journalism get the basic knowledge that they require so that when they go out into the workplace, they're equipped to be fact-based journalists and to know the difference between trafficking and smuggling and you name it. And we're really, really enthusiastic with the support that's been given to us and looking forward to welcoming other participants in that very initiative, which we think will make a big difference. May I, at this point, turn please to the Ambassador of the Holy See, whom I'm not sure if is in the room or online. Forgive me. Please, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. I'm not the Ambassador, but I take that as a compliment. It is regrettable that we continue to witness an increasing number of deplorable episodes of discrimination, racism and xenophobia, including targeting migrants and even refugees. Many migrants have become particularly vulnerable and are burdened by unequal access to adequate healthcare. Additionally, they face heightened discrimination as opposed to COVID-19 related health risks, including when they try to return to their country of origin. On the one hand, labor migration is in high demand and welcome by the markets of developed and emerging economies to compensate for labor shortages. On the other hand, migrants are often rejected and subjected to resentful attitudes by many in receiving societies. This said reality is a glaring contradiction. Regrettably, such double standards stem from the predominance of economic interests over the human person. This tendency became particularly evident during the COVID-19 lockdowns, where many of the so-called essential workers were indeed migrants. Mr. Moderator, in his most recent encyclical letter, which was released this month on the 3rd of October, entitled Fratelli Tutti, or in English, All Brothers, Pope Francis decries that migrants are not seen as entitled like others to participate in the life of society, and it is forgotten that they possess the same intrinsic dignity as any person. Pope Francis suggests instead that migrants can be a gift and invites us to change the way we perceive migration, acknowledging that migrants bring an opportunity for enrichment and the integral human development of all. For these reasons, the Holy See wishes to emphasize Pope Francis assertion that the debate about migration is not only about migrants, rather it is about all of us and about the present and the future of our societies. And I think the Irish ambassador used the word bedrock to define the invaluable role of migrants for our society, and I want to repeat that as well. As we witness a growing trend toward extreme individualism and the globalization of indifference, we must work together to ensure that no one is excluded, including the poor and the most vulnerable, often become the emblems of exclusion and discrimination. In this regard, we wish to stress once again that there can be no successful and sustainable migration policy without a simultaneous, comprehensive, and mutually enriching integration strategy. It was encouraging to listen to the excellent presentation by the panelists and to learn from the diverse experiences in different part of the world. If you allow me, Mr. Moderator, I would like to ask a question. I think we heard from Mr. Glenn Linder, Director General from Canada, about a survey on the acceptance rate of migration, and we would like to know if the economic slowdowns that were brought by the ongoing pandemic have somehow changed these acceptance of migrants in receiving societies, and especially if they notice a trend, a negative trend in this regard. Thank you very much, Mr. Moderator. Thank you very much indeed, Representative of the Holy See. We'll leave that question until we wrap up at the end to Mr. Linder, should he wish to answer. May I please turn now to the representative of Switzerland? I believe in the room. Thank you. Honorable Chair and panelists, dear participants, COVID-19 is the challenge of our time and cities are at its epicenter. The UN Secretary General reported that 90% of COVID-19 cases occur in cities. While it is true that COVID-19 has impacted all people and all aspects of society, the pandemic has made starkly apparent and exacerbated pre-existing structural inequities that particularly harm migrants, refugees, and IDPs. The majority of whom live in cities. Migrants, refugees, and IDPs often face the compounding challenges of informal employment, lack of access to healthcare, overcrowded households, stigmatization, and fear of accessing services because of their studies and rising xenophobia spreading along with the virus. In the face of these massive challenges, mayors and local governments around the world have stepped up to respond pragmatically and ethically from providing free access to testing or treatment and direct cash assistance, regardless of migration status, to ensuring public outreach materials are multilingual, to actively fostering messages of community solidarity, mayors are taking decisive action. The Mayor's Migration Council, MMC, which Switzerland supports as a funding institutional donor, has stepped up directly to this challenge and affirmed that the only way to recover and build back stronger from this crisis is to create inclusive response and recovery policies ensuring that no one is left behind. The MMC mayors of Zurich, Frittan, Milan, Amman, and others launched together a global mayor's solidarity campaign for inclusive response and recovery. They called on national governments and the international community to join them in three tasks. Ensuring safe, equitable access to services regardless of migration status, including healthcare and economic relief, empowering migrants and refugees to be part of the solution to COVID-19, including through the regularization of essential workers and combating misinformation, racism, and xenophobia to strengthen community solidarity in all COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. Particularly on this last task, which is the subject of conversation today, cities are seeing some success in preventing misinformation and building social solidarity in the face of the pandemic. But for this to happen, cities, in particular, secondary cities, need capacity building support and investment in the core infrastructure from national and international partners so they can continue to deliver the critical non-discriminatory services migrants rely on. Switzerland, in its national migration policy, is candoring racism and xenophobia through measures implemented in the cities and municipalities of residence, supported financially by the confederation and the contents. Cities also need reliable data on the actual population living in the city limits in order to make sure that intervention are targeted and COVID-19 measures are inclusive and protect the most vulnerable, particularly in highly densely populated areas which are growing rapidly. During the pandemic, Switzerland has supported the application of an innovative project in DRC, together with IOM and our partner, the Flyminder Foundation, using anonymized mobile phone data to obtain people's mobility patterns and to support the government with the COVID-19 response. This pilot project will be scaled and replicated in other developing countries. Cities need not only reliable migration related data, but also real localized data on public perception of migrants and migration. This is to help them build positive narratives and combat dangerous rumors, misinformation and xenophobia before it is too late and they become the new normal. Switzerland is pleased to see in the framework of the GFMD Working Group on Public Narratives on Migration, co-chaired by the mayor's mechanisms that cities and states, including Canada, Ecuador, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo and others, have joined forces to strategize around the communication campaign to balance public narratives on migration. On this collective note, I thank you for your attention. Thank you very, very much, Ms. Werner, for that contribution and in particular for the reference to the mayor's mechanism and the role it's playing in the narrative discussions of the GFMD. We will now turn to the Global Policy Insights, Global Policy Insights who are going to make a contribution. Thank you. Hello. Thank you. I hope you can hear me. I am grateful to IOM and participants to have given me this valuable opportunity to take the floor and put up my comments and represent Global Policy Insights. We have tried to address the problems of migration, inclusion and social cohesion under the models of assimilation, multiculturalism and integration. To me, these ideas fundamentally stand on the foundation of differences between us and that will require perpetual addresses. Differences are inevitable. We need a paradigm shift to address diversity and unity that celebrates diversity. Diversity of culture and tradition must be looked up to as a reason for pride. To address the challenges of inclusion and cohesion in migration, I am pleased to touch on an ancient Indian philosophy of Vasudeva Kutumbakam. It is a Sanskrit sloka that is a phrase originally from the scripture, Maha Upanishad. It translates to that the whole world is one single family. Contrary to the underpinning illusionary labels of nations, religions, cultures and the list goes on, the dialogue must emanate from an understanding that the whole of humanity is a close-knit family. The development of out-of-Africa scientific theory that proposes a single geographic region and early migration of modern humans underscores that we have a single origin. I draw to your attention to how the noble wisdom of Vasudeva Kutumbakam and scientific evidence of out-of-Africa theory can frame a positive narrative on a local level. On a local level, this can propagate inclusiveness and cohesion with universal love and brotherhood that makes us empathetic to pains and pleasures of migrants and be well aware of it and share their concerns as art. The persistent challenges of xenophobia and discrimination can definitely be overcome. Barriers can become celebrated opportunities through campaigns, media communications and synergies with justice. Embracing such a paradigm has the potential to stir and transform the migration narrative from bottom up that can help us transcend the multiplicity of our world and ensure safe orderly and regular migration. Such a universal concept encompasses the imperatives of migrant inclusion, social cohesion as well as community resilience in their truest sense and can also help define the terms better. I would like to conclude by a quote by Sri Swami Vivekananda. All differences in this world are of degree and not of kind because oneness is the secret of everything. Thank you. Thank you very, very much for your contribution. May I now turn finally to the representative of Algeria who's sitting in front of me here. Online, excuse me, online, pardon me. And then we have a couple of questions that have come in which we will return to immediately afterwards. Thank you before we wrap up. Bonjour tout le monde. Good day. Let me introduce myself. I am Mr. Walid, Director of Consulate Affairs charged with foreigners in Algeria. I want to thank the IOM for their invitation to participate in this session of the dialogue. It's my first time participating thanks to this new video conference technology. And to a certain extent, I guess I could say thanks to COVID which has emphasized the importance of inclusion and the integration of all parts of society and that we need to fight against all forms of marginalization and stigmatization. Algeria has become a country of destination for and a host country. There's a strong Algerian community in many countries throughout the world and this community often has to face the challenges of discrimination and xenophobia but I'm not going to dwell on that because I focus more on the issue of foreigners coming into my country. I would say that legal migrants to our country are protected by the Constitution and this enshrines all their fundamental rights and anything that might affect their basic human dignity. They have access to justice. They can register and have access to basic services including health and education. The new law of the 28th of April 2020 regarding prevention and the fight against discrimination and hate speech imposes sanctions on all distinctions, restrictions or preferences based on gender, race, skin color, heritage, nationality of origin and even health. It foresees creating an observatory to detect and analyze all possible forms and shapes of discrimination and hate speech to research its causes and take steps to prevent them. Tens of thousands of foreign workers are welcomed by my country. This is happening to build great infrastructure. We have partnership agreements with their countries of origin and we also have other migrants from Arab and African countries that become students. Algeria has over the last few years actually since its independence set up regular schemes for regularization. There is the ordinance of the 28th of July of 1996 and the law of the 11th of July 1981 regarding the employment of foreigners. The law of the 25th of June 2008 regarding the entry and stay of foreigners has further strengthened this orientation and is now part of a review that will expand the rights of foreigners that reside legally in my country. Having said that, my country has had to face for a few years now a massive influx of refugees because of its geographical location, the extent of its land and the difficult times in neighboring countries. It faces major migratory challenges which means that we need to make great efforts to combat human trafficking and those who benefit from this traffic that have access to resources and those that might benefit from it need to protect human dignity in accordance with international commitments and implement bilateral agreements on the matter. While we need to distinguish between legal and illegal migrants we are nevertheless very tolerant of those who are on our soil without the right papers. We still provide them with basic services especially healthcare free of charge and even certain jobs. In the current corona context Algeria has spared no effort to help foreigners even those who are undocumented that have found themselves on our soil due to being stranded by their airlines. Our authorities as of March 2020 has authorized and facilitated the transit of foreigners through organizations carried out with their host country so that they could be repatriated. We've also set up a provisional setup that provided for the automatic extension of visas that might have expired during this health crisis. Foreigners have also benefited from the same measures as Algerians when it comes to paid leave during this crisis. Right now we're seeing many legal migrants returning. They had left due to the pandemic and this is thanks to special measures and provisions coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that they could recover their jobs respecting all the health protocols set up by competent authorities. When we refer to illegal migrants if we're talking about the most vulnerable women and children national authorities have decided to suspend provisionally repatriation to countries of origin covering their lodging nutrition and healthcare. This would be divided with the support of the Red Crescent. Now despite the closure of air transit other facilities have been provided to the IOM to allow for voluntary reunification when it was the case of illegal migrants. These facilities were carried out under the voluntary repatriation measures of 2018. Algerian authorities have also authorized exceptionally that the IOM provide financial support to migrants that face financial difficulties due to COVID-19. In that context we would like to mention the participation that will take place on the forum of mayors of North African cities on the 28th and 29th of October via videoconference the city of Zilikazam will participate it's located in the south of my country not far from the border with Libya, Niger and Mali and it welcomes a large amount of illegal migrants. Thank you very much. Thank you so much Thank you, Mr. President of Algeria. We've now reached the end of our session but there were two questions came in one regarding Canada I'm not sure if Mr. Linder is available to provide a response but another question came regarding the Global Migration Media Migration Academy it's one for Excellency the ambassador of Ireland and it is where can we find out more information about this academy and also the follow-up part of that question was is there a Latin American country involved to which I can answer that yes there is and it will be Mexico but I'll leave the first part too Ambassador. Thank you very much I suppose it was inevitable somebody would ask me that question and I'm very glad that they did we will be making an announcement with the IOM shortly on all the details but I just felt that today's dialogue was too important not to mention it so very soon we'll have the details and we'll make the announcement. Thank you very much. Thanks so much Ambassador I believe Canada is online Mr. Linder if you wish to respond please. Thanks very much and thank you to the representative of the Holy See for the for the question look I would the first thing I want to say is in terms of the impact of the pandemic on migrants in Canada it has had a disproportionate effect on them personally in terms of having generally more precarious employment and they have suffered more than average in terms of losing employment not being able to get employment that said in direct answer to your question about the attitudes of Canadians the pandemic has actually strengthened the faith of Canadians in the contribution of migrants to our economy last year 80% of Canadians agreed with the statement that immigrants make a positive contribution to our economy this year, September, a year later that was up to 84% so the reason I think for that is that we've seen over the course of the pandemic that migrants have been a key to helping us and there's two examples of this that I would cite the first is when our we're very dependent on agricultural workers foreign agricultural workers to come into Canada to harvest our crops during the growing season and with the closure of borders it looked like we were going to have a shortage and when this was known to the Canadian public there was a huge realization of our dependency on migrants to do this work for food security we work closely with a number of source countries who are the traditional suppliers of foreign workers to our agricultural sector that it again it really highlighted for the Canadian public how dependent we are. The other example I would just briefly cite is we have a number of asylum seekers in Canada and there were several examples many examples in fact of asylum seekers who took jobs in long-term care homes and in Canada at the beginning of the pandemic our long-term care homes were particularly badly hit by the pandemic and that's where the majority of deaths in Canada unfortunately happened but asylum seekers stepped forward and took some of these jobs these dangerous jobs providing direct care to patients as a result of that my minister made an announcement in July to say that anyone who was an asylum seeker who hadn't had their claim heard or even who had who hadn't had their claim heard yet or whose claim had been refused but who could demonstrate that they worked for a certain amount of time providing direct care to patients we are providing them a pathway to permanent residents in Canada in recognition of their huge contributions during the pandemic and again this made news it was widely picked up and again just demonstrated to Canadians the huge importance of migrants to our communities and to our country as a whole I leave it there, thanks very much Thank you so much for those insights, thank you very much and we now are coming to the very end of our session I would like to thank everybody present and everybody online I'd like also to pay tribute to the ODI who have recently published working paper 588 which proved particularly helpful in preparing me for this session I recommend it to all of you one of their key findings which I see in front of me is talking about anti-migrant activism, social media and the adoption of the global compact for migration they point out that 75 of the most popular YouTube videos discussing the GCM were indeed created by anti-migrant activists so it's very interesting to hear about the growing coalition we can use that word in this context of people, cities civil society governments interested in coalescing around a more coherent and a more fair narrative on migration and I commend all of you to continue to do so thank you so much for your contributions and for this fascinating afternoon of debate and now it is my duty to tell you that panel 6 global compact for safe orderly and regular migration in the COVID recovery we'll follow shortly so thank you once again