What’s the Rio+20?
It is a conference on sustainable development ended almost a month ago (in Rio de Janeiro, Bra) and left many wondering about next steps, and what countries will do to act on their commitments.
The conference covered issues including hunger, poverty, and access to renewable energy. Rio+20 aimed to provide solutions to the mounting uncertainty of a safe and prosperous environment for future generations. A relevant topic that was only briefly covered at Rio+20 is MigratioN.
Is there a relationship between S.D. & Migration?
Migration is a high priority for the international community, and can contribute positively to socio-economic development as stated in the Rio 2012 Issues Brief on Migration and Sustainable: Development including:
- Transferring skills and knowledge between receiving areas and origins
- Remittances, which allow for consumer investments, poverty reduction within families and communities, an increase in human capital, financial investments and business ventures
- Urbanization, a factor in sustainable development and poverty reduction
- Economic growth in the destination and origin areas by promoting business connections, the sharing of knowledge and poverty reduction
As UNDP’s Paul Ladd says, “If development does not allow people to migrate safely, it is not sustainable.”
Leaders at Rio+20 didn’t fully take advantage of this opportunity. Key development issues like remittances, urbanization, human trafficking, rural development and border management are strongly linked, and are affected by MigratioN Flows.
At the Rio+20 conference, the international community addressed and realized the need for sustainable migration policies. They committed to protect human rights regardless of migration status. They committed to further international, open dialogue and cooperation on migration policies, as well as taking care to recognize their responsibilities as origin and destination countries. While this is a positive signal, it says little on how this will actually translate into national policies….
