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IOM, Partners Hold Side-event at UNGA to Promote Migrant Health

New York – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the Governments of Argentina, Ecuador, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and Thailand will today (22/09) hold a side event on Promoting Migrant Health – Striving for Peace and Decent Life for All on the side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and Portugal, as well as Ecuador’s Vice Minister of Human Mobility, will provide keynote addresses. IOM’s Director General, William Lacy Swing, and WHO’s Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, will speak on a panel with the Secretary General of IFRC, Elhadj As Sy, along with other government representatives from Argentina, Italy and Thailand.

This side event aims to advance understanding and support towards mainstreaming health into the global migration and development agenda, including in the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) towards the achievement of relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also presents the opportunity for multi-sectoral dialogue and debate on how to promote refugee and migrant health, and facilitate the sharing of current perspectives and good practices.

“The theme for this side event closely reflects IOM’s vision, namely that being and staying healthy is a fundamental precondition for migrants to strive for peace, a decent life for themselves and their families, and to contribute substantially to the social and economic development of the communities in which they live,” said Ambassador Swing.

The DGs from IOM and WHO will also mention the important joint elaboration of Proposed Health Components to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in response to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General’s request for inputs to the UN Secretary-General’s report for the GCM.

Led by WHO and IOM, this joint effort was done in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the World Bank, the International Labour Office (ILO), the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), the World Medical Association (WMA) and IFRC.

 “The GCM is expected to provide a unifying framework of common principles, commitments and understandings amongst Member States on all aspects of international migration, including the humanitarian, development and human rights-related dimensions. Health must be there,” said Ambassador Swing.

Watch this important event live, at 10 am, New York time (UTC-4) at http://webtv.un.org/live/ or http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/

For more information, please contact Jacqueline Weekers at IOM HQ, Tel: +41 7179355, Email: jweekers@iom.int