The International Migration Review Forum is underway at the United Nations (UN) in New York, United States (US), an event that seeks to engage member states and other stakeholders on the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
A key message to emerge from the opening of the forum was that migration had become increasingly politicized, making discussions at the forum that much more important in ensuring that the broader goals of migration governance remained effective and grounded in reality.
The event comes amid a growing global sentiment against unregulated migration with anti-migrant protests and harassment of fellow African foreign nationals in South Africa (SA) raising concern with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last week.
This is after he condemned criminal acts by individuals inciting violence and exploiting socio-economic conditions in SA.
A protest march in Pretoria, Gauteng Province, last week, expressing frustration at illegal immigration, a perspective not unique to SA or Africa, with Europe and the Americas among other regions also caught up in the debate.
–SABC–
