Migrants ‘easy’ targets

SURGE: RHETORIC GROWING AMID 2024 ELECTIONS AROUND THE WORLD

UN leader says politicians causing harm in societies.

With 2024 set to see more elections worldwide than any previous year, the United Nations’ migration chief says increasing anti-migrant rhetoric from politicians seeking to score points is harming societies.

While the expected rematch between US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump in November has drawn attention, many other high-stakes ballots are coming up this year.

Amy Pope, who last year became the first woman to head the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), said that with so many elections looming, anti-migrant rhetoric was ramping up “around the world... to fuel campaigns”.

She said politicians were taking “what can be a very easy route to lay whatever has gone wrong within society, whether it’s crime rates or inflation, unemployment or insecurity... at the feet of migrants”.

With about half the global population due to go to the polls in 2024, migrants were “easy” targets because “migrants don’t vote”, she said.

In the US, where migration has arguably become one of the main focuses of the presidential contest, Trump has claimed there is an “invasion” at the southern border. He suggested recently that some of those entering the country are “not people”.

Such comments can have serious consequences, warned Pope.

“When there’s dehumanising of any population, there are increasing reports of violence, of discrimination. Ultimately, that is bad for society.”

She said fearmongering was rarely rooted in what is happening on the ground.

Some countries where anti-migrant rhetoric is rampant need more migrants to keep their societies thriving, she said, pointing to the significant “labour shortages in countries across Europe”.

“In reality, the need for migration is not only existent... but is going to increase fairly significantly in future years.”

Pope mentioned a recent report by The Economist magazine indicating that high immigration enabled the US economy to rebound quickly after Covid.

Migration meant the country “had enough people to come in and drive the innovation, the labour, the economic demands”

Pope said a more positive narrative around migration was vital, as was creating more safe and legal migration pathways for people to travel.

Recent IOM statistics showed that 8 565 people died on irregular migrant routes across treacherous deserts and seas in 2023, making it the deadliest year since records began a decade ago.

“Certainly the [real] number is much higher,” she said, adding that this was likely to continue.

“The number of people on the move is at a historic high and the pressures on them to move are only going to grow.”

Creating safe, regular migration pathways was the best way to avoid people setting off on dangerous journeys, and this would also benefit the countries migrants were trying to reach.

“I am inspired to do this work because the needs are urgent, but also I think there are better ways to respond,” she said.

“No-one wants to see large numbers of irregular migrants come across borders or come across the Mediterranean or come across the Channel,” she said, acknowledging that this could “create pressures on societies”. –