International Organisation for Migration: Well-coordinated migration is a positive phenomenon

Regulated and well-coordinated migration is a positive phenomenon from the point of view of migrants, as well as of their home countries and countries that give them selter, the regional director of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Monday evening.

At the same time each country can maintain its sovereign right to decide whom it allows to enter and whom it rejects, Eugenio Ambrosi said in an interview to public news channel M1.

Everyone, whether a refugee, an unaccompanied minor, a victim of people smugglers, an economic migrant or a student seeking further education, has the same fundamental rights as all the other seven billion people have around the world, he said.

This, however, does not mean that a migrant with an unsettled status can automatically stay in a country and have access to certain services there, Ambrosi said.

It is every country’s sovereign right to define under which criteria it allows a migrant to stay on its territory, he added.

Ambrosi said the integration of migrants already staying legally in Europe must be helped as much as possible and the integration of those fleeing to Europe from conflict zones must also be supported.

Some form of support must also be given to groups, such as children who arrive among irregular entrants but do not immediately face expulsion, the regional director said, highlighting the importance of handling any situation by considering first of all its humanitarian aspect.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/IOM-UNMigration

Source: MTI