On Sunday 18 December, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will join the rest of the UN and other partners in celebrating International Migrants Day. This year, the theme of International Migrants Day is “I Am a Migrant”, and the organization will focus on sharing the message that migration is a universal phenomenon that has taken place in all cultures and societies since time immemorial.
This year, on International Migrants Day, we choose to focus not only on the needs of migrants, but also on their values and active contributions to change, social progress, and resilience. We at IOM are making a global call to end all forms of discrimination against migrants.” His Excellency the President Charles A Savarin will also lend his voice to this call to humanity, in an address to the nation on Monday 19 December.
Maxine Alleyne-Esprit, Communications Assistant for IOM Dominica
In an effort to bring light to the positive stories of migration, and the contributions of migrants, IOM Dominica will launch a series of short videos featuring well-known migrants who have been living in Dominica, contributing in various ways to the socio-economic advancement of the country, and to the vision of Resilient Dominica. The videos will be launched at @IOMDominica on Facebook and Instagram over the coming days.
The first video, launched on IOM Dominica on Facebook and Instagram on Thursday 15 December 2022, features Zaimis Olmos, Communications Specialist, who came to Dominica from Venezuela and fell in love with the island. According to the IOM Communications Assistant, there are many migrants living and contributing among us. Sometimes they have become so integrated into the society that we don’t even think of them as migrants. However, other groups of migrants are subjected to tremendous discrimination within the Dominican society and globally, and IOM staff are continuously working towards increased understanding, to achieve an attitude shift in the spirit of humanity.
Alleyne-Esprit says that now, at the height of the Christmas season, which most Dominicans celebrate, it is an opportune time for locals and migrants to extend their hands to each other in a gesture of acceptance, as members of the same human family. Migrants are men and women, boys and girls, of every colour and nation, each with their individual stories, and all with the ambition to live safely and contribute to their livelihood, betterment of their families and their society. Some move by choice, and others are forced to move, but all are human.
Xenophobia and stigmatization are fueled by misinformation and only serve to limit migrants’ ability to contribute to communities. Member States have recognized and agreed in the Global Compact on Migration, that we all benefit when migrants are provided with access to support services, regardless of their status. On this International Migrants Day, let us follow the Golden Rule and put an end to discrimination against migrants in our society.
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