MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

South America unifies position on regional migratory policy

Laura Thompson from the IOM said it was crucial to help migrants from becoming victims of the global crisis

The 9th South American Conference on Migration ended Tuesday in Ecuador with the approval of the “Quito Declaration” aimed at harmonizing the regional migratory policy of the twelve participant countries.

The declaration, which sets forth as a priority the free movement inside the countries of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), will be presented at the Third Global Forum on Migration in Athens.

Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Laura Thompson said it was crucial and urgent to help immigrants from becoming the main victims of the global economic crisis.

“To fight discrimination against immigrants is essential at this moment,” Thompson said. She added it was important to make the public aware of the immigrants' contributions to the economy and society.

The agenda discussed at the conference included a plan of human development for migrations, the rights and dignity of migrants, and underlining their contributions both to their country of origin and of migration.

Ecuadorian Migration Minister Lorena Escudero said millions of immigrants in the world were “evidence of the asymmetric world order, where inequalities survive.”

According to figures given by the conference, 2.2 million Bolivians lived outside their country, and 300,000 Colombian refugees were in Ecuador.

Hit hard by the worst financial crisis in the country's history, a large number of Ecuadorians migrated to Europe, mainly Spain and Italy, and US, in 1999, and migration management became a state policy in 2007 for Ecuador.

Representatives from social institutions, observers from international and regional organizations like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean were present at the conference.