Treat migrants as human being, ensure their dignity

Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina strongly advocated Monday for ensuring the dignity and wellbeing of migrant people and treating them as the human being, not just as the elements of economic activity or production, reports UNB.

"They must enjoy all the rights as every other person," she said while inaugurating the 'Global Expert Meeting on Migration in the Post -2015 Development Agenda' at a city hotel.

Bangladesh and Switzerland jointly organised the international meeting of world migration experts, aiming to secure a rightful place for migration within the emerging architecture of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The PM underscored the need for placing people at the centre of all the development pursuits to meet various challenges caused by the steady rise in population.

She said migration and migrant workers must be portrayed positively in both the origin and destination countries.

Hasina said the mankind is witnessing an unprecedented mobility in human history, within and beyond borders with the continuous growth of world population.

She said technological advances, production management and demand for basic services are rising, and these are shaping the global human mobility patterns. "So, the rights of migrants should be central in all discussions and dialogues, and it is the growing need for social protection for migrants and members of their families," Hasina told her audience.

She also outlined how the developed and developing countries together can, and must, beneficially address the challenges of global demographics, its dividends as well as harness the benefits of migration and mobility.