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. . . . . "People migrate today for the same reasons that tens of millions of Europeans once left your shores - they flee war or oppression, or they leave in search of a better life in a new
land.
Those who are forced out of their homes - the refugees who flee in fear for their safety - are our collective legal and moral responsibility. We have an agreed legal framework for their protection - the 1951 Refugee
Convention.
However, when refugees cannot seek asylum because of offshore barriers, or are detained for excessive periods in unsatisfactory conditions, or are refused entry because of restrictive interpretations of the Convention, the asylum system is broken, and the promise of the Convention is broken, too". . . . . .
. . . . . "Most immigrants are not refugees. We call them voluntary migrants - and some of them truly are. However, many leave their home countries not because they really want to, but because they see no future at home. It is our shared duty to do what we can to ensure that there are more opportunities in developing countries." . . . . .
. . . . . "Your asylum systems are overburdened precisely because many people who feel they must leave see no other channel through which to migrate. Many others try more desperate and clandestine measures, and are sometimes injured or even killed - suffocating in trucks, drowning at sea, or perishing in the undercarriage of
aircraft.
The lucky ones who do get in often find themselves at the mercy of unscrupulous employers, and alienated from society.
Some resort to smugglers to assist their journey. Others fall victim to traffickers - especially women, who are forced into prostitution in a modern form of sex slavery, and become acutely vulnerable to
HIV/AIDS.
This silent human rights crisis shames our world. It also generates billions of dollars for shadowy networks of organized criminals, who subvert the rule of law in all societies where they operate." . . . . .
. . . . . "I would therefore encourage European States to open up greater avenues for legal migration - for skilled and unskilled workers, for family reunification and economic improvement, for temporary and permanent immigrants." . . . . .
. . . . . "Combating illegal immigration should be part of a much broader agenda - an agenda to harness the benefits of immigration, not vainly try to stop it. But sometimes, the breadth of the agenda has been lost amidst shrill debates about clamping down on illegal immigration - as though that were the major purpose of migration policy. The public has been fed images of a flood of unwelcome entrants, and of threats to their societies and identities. In the process, immigrants have sometimes been stigmatized, vilified, even
de-humanized.
In the process, an essential truth has been lost. The vast majority of migrants are industrious, courageous, and determined. They don't want a free ride. They want a fair opportunity. They are not criminals or terrorists. They are law-abiding. They don't want to live apart. They want to integrate, while retaining their identity." . . . . .
. . . . . "The message is clear. Migrants need Europe. But Europe also needs migrants. A closed Europe would be a meaner, poorer, weaker, older Europe. An open Europe will be a fairer, richer, stronger, younger Europe - provided you manage migration well." . . . . .
Kofi Annan UNHCR Secretary-General, address to the European Parliament upon receipt of the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought [as delivered] Brussels, Belgium, 29 January 2004
Full text of speech can be downloaded at  http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sgsm9134.doc.htm.
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