
Migrants stand near their tents during the evacuation from their camp near the Austerlitz train station in Paris, 17 September, 2015. (Reuters/Charles Platiau)
Integration: The Next Migration Crisis?
Migration was the defining story of 2015, as an unprecedented number of people sought to escape war, poverty and persecution. Faced with a crisis on a scale not seen since the Second World War, policy-makers struggled to know how to respond.
As winter approached, the flows of migrants slowed down. But as one crisis ends, another one could yet begin: a crisis of integration, writes IOM Director General William Lacy Swing in a blog for the World Economic Forum.
When migrants are successfully integrated into their new communities and instilled with a sense of belonging, everyone reaps the benefits. Unfortunately, the tendency of some to focus on the negative aspects of migration – mainly in the hope of political gains – could complicate the integration process. This could pave the way for a second crisis.
“So how can we prevent a second crisis and instead maximize all the potential benefits?” asks Swing, who will take part in the WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos later this week.
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UN SG Ban Ki-moon speaks at a press conference ahead of the launch of the UN’s report on humanitarian financing, Jan. 17, 2016. (AP/Martin Dokoupil)
UN Panel: $40 billion Needed Annually to Help People Caught in Conflict and Natural Disasters
DUBAI - An estimated $40 billion is needed annually to help the rapidly growing number of people needing humanitarian aid as a result of conflicts and natural disasters, write Aya Batrawy and Edith Lederer for the Associated Press.
One possibility to help fill the $15 billion funding gap is a small voluntary tax on tickets for soccer games and other sports, concerts and entertainment events, airline travel, and gasoline, a U.N.-appointed panel said.
The panel's report on humanitarian financing, launched Sunday by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, says the world is spending around $25 billion to provide life-saving assistance to 125 million people devastated by wars and natural disasters — more than 12 times the $2 billion that was spent in 2000.
The nine-member panel calculated that an additional $15 billion is needed annually to reduce suffering and save lives. It warned that if current trends continue, the cost of humanitarian assistance will rise to $50 billion by 2030.
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