Migrations

2015 began in the same way as 2014 ended: abandoned cargo ships in the Mediterranean Sea drifting towards the shore, full of hundreds of migrants deprived of water and food, transported like cattle in inhuman conditions.

Last year, a record number of migrants, almost 350,000 migrants, took the seas, often with tragic results. Over 4000 people were swallowed up by the Mediterranean in 2014. Our “Mare nostrum” has become a cemetery.

These migrations are not confined to “Fortress Europe”. They are a planetary phenomenon (on the Mexican-American border or in China…). With more than 215 million international migrants and 750 million internal migrants, migrations are one of the major trends of the twenty-first century, with lasting impacts not only on political, social and economic systems but also on the composition of nation states. This trend will probably increase in the coming years – as an inevitable consequence of the economic crisis, of increasing conflicts in many region of the world and of the environmental degradation caused by climate change.

UNU is therefore organizing a meeting with major political stakeholders – committed to both reflection and action in different countries – and international experts (both academics and those working on the ground) who will analyze the causes of the current massive migrations and will also adopt a forward looking approach.

Daniel Rondeau, UNU Representative at UNESCO, Writer, former Ambassador of France to Malta and UNESCO

Other participants : 

• Joseph MUSCAT, Premier ministre de Malte
• William Lacy SWING, Directeur Général de l’Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations
• Miguel Angel MORATINOS, Ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères espagnol
•  Hubert VEDRINE, Ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères français
• Jean-Louis BORLOO, Ancien ministre français
• Andrea RICCARDI, Fondateur de la Communauté de Sant’Egidio