Migration has been a courageous expression of the individual’s effort to overcome adversity and to live a better life. Today, globalisation, together with advances in communications and transportation, has greatly increased the number of people who have the desire and the capacity to move to other places.

This new era has created challenges and opportunities for societies throughout the world. It also has served to underscore the clear linkage between migration and development, as well as the opportunities it provides for co-development, that is, the concerted improvement of economic and social conditions at both origin and destination.

International Migrants Day is celebrated yearly on the 18th of December. International Migrants Day is an international day observed for taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world. On December 18, 1990, the General Assembly adopted the international convention on the protection of the rights of migrant workers and members of their families.

Migration is firmly on the global agenda. In fact, the first United Nations side event on migration took place last year. As for national agenda, the summit in Malta brought African and European leaders together to discuss pertinent issues on migration. Besides, Canada’s new government has sounded a Clarion call, taking 25,000 thousand refugees in a rapid, regulated, and welcoming mass intake. In Asia, governments have gathered to seek a regional solution to the migration crisis in the Andaman Sea.

World Assembly of Youth (WAY) tackled a theme ‘Youth Migration: A Step from Haven’ in the 13th Melaka International Youth Dialogue. This theme realised to fulfil the principal opinions of young people and to form, educate, increase awareness on the adversities and prerogatives of youth migration in the different levels of society that young people represented. We seek to help all nations whenever it is possible to fulfil their responsibility to assist and protect mobile populations because migrants are more likely to be subject to hardship, human rights violations and discrimination in crisis situations.

Let’s honor International Migrants Day with a call to action to lift up and respect human rights of all migrants, and to commit to challenge and end all forms of racism and Xenophobia.

We would like to wish you all a Happy International Migrants Day!