With the 80th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations beginning last week, Heads of State and Government appeared to address the global stage and appeal for change.
World leaders spoke of a wide variety of issues: congratulating the UN on its 80th anniversary, taking a strong stance on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and emerging issues of artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, migration was mentioned by states in the Global North as an issue that requires cooperation on the global level, with states whose citizens are the most likely to leave, pleading for aid in mitigating their crises, facilitating migration, and displacing their populations.
United States: UN Is Useless, Europe is Going to Hell
US President Donald Trump, in his hour-long speech, did not simply bring up migration as a global crisis, calling it “the number one political issue of our time,” but also blamed the UN for creating it by financing their journey, providing “food, shelter, transportation, and debit cards to illegal aliens.”
Praising the work of the US in the Americas, he highlighted how his deportation policy stopped the flow into the US, telling Europe they should follow his example “because they choose to be politically correct, they’re doing just absolutely nothing about” migration.
He predicted that without stopping migration, European “countries are going to hell.”
South America – Venezuela and Panama
Venezuela has continued to remain a push-state in a migration wave into the US that is now in reverse after Trump’s deportation and border control policies. Venezuela’s foreign minister, however, took a stand against global “unilateral coercive measures against the brotherly peoples of Belarus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Iran, and Zimbabwe,” while defending Russia and praising the liberators of America that ended colonialism. He criticized the US government’s “betrayal” of its people and values and for unjustly attacking Venezuela but made no mention of migration.
Panama, on the other hand, delivered a speech focused on multilateralism and international solutions. Emphasizing the neutrality of the Panama Canal and climate change, President José Raúl Mulino Quintero hailed the end of the migration crisis, which caused “extreme” impacts on the Darien Gap’s natural diversity as well as the suffering of the millions that passed through, especially women and children. He emphasized that while the transits have decreased drastically, their causes “remain unaddressed” and are affecting the region, especially the crisis at the borders of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
He also spoke of the threat of drug trafficking in Central America, which, he argued, will require global efforts and resources to stop.
Europe: Mitigating Incoming Waves
The continent struggling with an increasing migration wave showed major polarization on migration, but few took it to the international level, instead advocating an end to wars across the globe.
French President Emmanuel Macron did not specifically speak about the migration crisis; he did emphasize the importance of human rights and called for an end to conflict in the Congo and Sudan and praised the African Union’s initiatives for peace.
Germany only praised the UNHCR’s work in Sudanese refugee camps, while the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy did not mention migration at all, only the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts.
Italian President Giorgia Meloni joined others calling for a reform of the UN but emphasized that this must be done by revising conventions, especially those around asylum and migration, which had been laid down at a time when mass migration and human trafficking “did not exist” yet. She argued that the implementation of the outdated conventions causes a trampling of human rights, so a new system must balance safeguarding “basic human rights along with the sacred right of every nation to protect its citizens and borders.”
Other states focused on the sources of migration over the legality of taking in refugees.
Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela called for a “coordinated response that is both humane and sustainable.” He acknowledged that while the ongoing growth of irregular migration is unsustainable, countries must address root causes of poverty and conflict. “We can secure our borders without building fortresses,” he added.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose country has introduced severe measures to slow the influx, emphasized the need for restarting humanitarian aid to address push factors, especially humanitarian crises, like the one in Sudan. Respect for international law and cooperation is the only way to address the issue, or Europe risks “facing a migration crisis of unimaginable proportions.”
Spanish King Don Felipe VI mentioned migration to be “a vector of mutual development for the societies of origin, transit, and destination” and called for the protection of human rights. He highlighted foreign relations with Africa to be of the highest order in Spain, since its future is to be determined by “dynamic and entrepreneurial” youth.
Africa and Southeast Asia: Representation and Crisis in Funding
The Global South, especially African states, rarely used the term ‘migration crisis’; instead, they pleaded for the continent to have a permanent representation in the Security Council and an overall reform of the UN. In terms of migration, they spoke of the social and military reasons for the waves of migrants heading to Europe, while reiterating the continued need for humanitarian assistance to reach all.
Libyan President Mohamed Younis A Menfi called for a “comprehensive development approach” over fragmented security deals to “create a development environment that spares youth the need to migrate” by rebalancing the economy across the continent.
The speeches of both Sudan and Syria warned the international community against war and its horrible effects of death and displacement. While Syria “paved the way for the return of refugees to their homes,” Sudan still suffers a civil war, calling for a stop to the “politicization of human rights.”
Many states that recently endured conflicts returned to this point, some even offering help to their neighbors: Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser of the interim Government, speaking after the end of a popular uprising, hailed his country’s restoration to be an example to all that no matter how impossible the solution may seem, the path to renewal is never lost.” He reiterated his country’s commitment to “safe, orderly, and regular migration” and called for an end to Myanmar’s war against the Rohingya, as well as an increase of international aid to their camps.
Ugandan Vice-President Jessica Rose Epel Alupo expressed worries over the “global geopolitical tensions” around hosting refugees, which “should not become a debt burden” forcing states to borrow. Uganda, hosting 1.93 million refugees, continues to include refugees in public services, such as healthcare and education, a model she praised as progressive but under increasing threat after a funding partner dropped out.
Egypt, hosting more than 10 million refugees, also called for states to create surroundings that respect dignity and human rights, as Egypt has, “despite increasing burdens that go beyond our capacity.”
Climate injustice was an issue many countries’ representatives touched on, including South Sudan, Bangladesh, and Tuvalu, pleading for green policies for similar reasons.
Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud advocated policies to mitigate climate change, which disproportionately affects his country with severe droughts and floods displacing families and eroding livelihoods, destroying development processes, and driving outward migration from the state.
Migration: A Northern Issue?
Overall, while the UN General Assembly’s focus was on peace, stability, and international cooperation, migration crept its way into the minds of many delegates. Based on the speeches, migration is only a crisis for the US and Europe, as source states are preoccupied by the cuts of aid debilitating any attempt at development. But the need is there: to continue global cooperation to mitigate flows of migration.
