The maiden Journalists International Forum For Migration Intercontinental Migration Summit rounded off on Friday with a call for affirmative actions to tackle various migration menaces.
The hybrid conference hosted by the Medgar Evers College, City University, New York City at Brooklyn was themed, ‘Appraising Human Mobility: Prospects and Challenges of Labour Migration Post-Pandemic Era,’ and was held between November 2-4.
The President of the JIFORM, Dr Ajibola Abayomi, who spoke via Zoom said there was a need for affirmative actions to address the mirage of challenges associated with human mobility and migration governance.
He said, “Global warming is worth giving serious attention. The anticipated climatic reactions projected by the World Bank to affect over 216 million people globally by 2030 as an offshoot of emission and environmental hazards such as flooding and weather reactions should concern all of us.
“We must not pretend, the mass movement of migrants to be affected in North Africa, Asia, Europe, America and others would lead to unprecedented inflation and dislocation of the world economy order if steps are not taken to forestall it. The developed countries that are responsible for most of the consequences of the global warming should fulfill the accumulated annual $100 billion overdue Green Climatic Funds pledge to the global south nations to mitigate the effect before it is too late,” he warned.
Ajibola called for support for the 280.6 million international migrants accounting for almost four per cent of the world population of 7.8bn with more friendly policies and deliberate evidence based journalism laced with human face given their roles as economic developers.
The Senior Vice President for Strategy at MEC, Kimberly Whitehead, PhD, and the Dean of MEC, Dr JoAnne Rolle, admonished nations and stakeholders to formulate strategies with clear road map to counter human trafficking luring women and children into slavery across the world.
Professor Byron Price from the MEC raised concerns on millions of migrants in detentions camps in America and other countries.
“An estimated 660,000 children – 150,000 last year alone – have been separated from one parent or both by our nation’s heartless detain-and-deport immigration laws.”
