UNITED NATIONS: World leaders adopted a resolution at the UN General Assembly on Monday, which would allow immigrants to work legally and help their children attend schools in their adopted homes.

The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants expresses the political will of world leaders to protect the rights of refugees and migrants, to save lives and share responsibility for large movements on a global scale.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the UN summit on refugees and immigrants represents a breakthrough in the international community’s collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility.”

He said the New York Declaration meant that “more children can attend school; more workers can securely seek jobs abroad, instead of being at the mercy of criminal smugglers.”

He said that more people will now have real choices about whether to move once a conflicts, sustain peace and increase opportunities at home.

The New York Declaration commits member states to start negotiations leading to an international conference and the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in 2018.

The resolution also commits them to develop guidelines on the treatment of migrants in vulnerable situations and to achieve a more equitable sharing of the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting the world’s refugees by adopting a global compact on refugees in 2018.

“I will take forward the commitment of the membership to begin a process leading to a global compact on migration, as well as to support a global compact on refugees,” said Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly. “The fate of millions of refugees and migrants rests with us.”

As called for in the declaration, the UN secretary general also launched a new campaign called “Together – Respect, Safety and Dignity for All” to “respond to rising xenophobia and turn fear into hope”.

He urged “world leaders to join this campaign and commit together to upholding the rights and dignity of everyone forced by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life.”

Also on Monday, the secretary general and the director general of the International Organisation for Migration signed the new agreement by which IOM becomes a related organisation of the United Nations, thus strengthening the comprehensive global approach to migration.

Published in Dawn September 20th, 2016