NEW YORK, June 15: The International Organization for Migration (IOM)—together with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and the 2019 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Chairmanship—is hosting a high-level meeting at the UN Headquarters on Sunday. 

Titled “Helping One Billion People Reach Their Own SDGs,” this event is being called to recognize the contributions of migrants globally, and to strengthen current partnerships to promote the development impact of remittances worldwide, the IOM said in a report. In numerical terms, there are more international migrants around the world than at any other period in history, and most of them are migrant workers.

Financial remittances are private transfers of funds by an overseas worker to an individual in his or her country of origin. Financial remittances have been recognized as playing a key role in reducing poverty and improving the lives of both migrants and their families.

“IOM gladly joins partners from UN, governments, broader society and migrants themselves to observe the International Day of Family Remittances. As we meet on 16 June every year, let’s look critically at the progress we are making towards our 2030 remittance targets: cost reduction, increased transparency and ensuring migrants’ equal access to financial education and empowerment, including those offered by digitalization and new forms of finance,” said Marina Manke, Head of IOM’s Labour Mobility and Human Development Division welcoming the event participants.

She spoke on behalf of IOM Director General and UN Migration Network Coordinator, Antonio Vitorino.

The World Bank estimates that in 2018, USD 529 billion was transferred in financial remittances to low-and-middle-income countries—and forecast this trend to continue upwards. One in every seven people around the world is directly supported by remittances, according to IFAD estimates.

Which is why The United Nations in 2016 designated 16 of June as its “International Day of Family Remittances,” to raise awareness on the transformative impact that migrant remittances have across the Sustainable Development Goals—particularly poverty reduction and access to basic services at the household level.

“I believe that the issue of remittances is at the very heart of the interconnection between human mobility and sustainable development,” said Ambassador Santiago Chávez, Vice Minister for Human Mobility, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador and GFMD 2019 Chair.

“This is why it has figured prominently throughout past GFMD Chairmanships. One of Ecuador’s thematic priorities this year is to shed light on linkages between human mobility and urban, as well as rural, development strategies with remittances playing a central role,” he added.

In recent years, IOM has been scaling up its support to governments and migrants to help reap the development benefits of migration. Launched in September 2018, the iDiaspora platform is an online platform to facilitate contact and collaboration between migrant communities around the world.

Currently, IOM is engaged in several remittance-related projects globally, notably through an IOM/Universal Post Union (UPU) and Burundi Post initiative to reduce remittance costs in Burundi and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)European Union (EU) Migration Action — that provides tailored technical support on remittances to ACP countries and regional organizations.

 
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