translated from Spanish: Haiti at the UN: “Many countries that are now prosperous were built thanks to successive waves of migrants and refugees”

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that “Migration will continue as long as there are zones of prosperity on our planet, while most of the world’s population lives in precariousness, sometimes extreme, without the prospect of a better life,” he said in a pre-recorded video. Henry said “many” have been shocked by the images in recent days of their compatriots’ treatment at the U.S.-Mexico border. Without discussing the right of a sovereign state to control the entry of foreigners into its territory or to return to their country of origin those who enter illegally, we believe that many countries that are now prosperous were built thanks to successive waves of immigrants and refugees, “he said. In Henry’s view, the problem of immigrants must remember that human beings, fathers and mothers, will always flee from misery and conflict and seek better living conditions for their children.” To find a sustainable solution to the problem of migration, the root causes of human displacement must be addressed. I call on the international community to urgently strengthen measures to improve living conditions in countries sending political or economic refugees,” he said. The Haitian Prime Minister considered that in order to reach such a solution, the Signatory States of the 1951 Geneva Convention must recommit themselves to the fundamental principles of that document and find together, in a spirit of cooperation, the most appropriate ways and means to guarantee respect for and protection of the rights of refugees. He recalled that multilateral diplomacy within the framework of the United Nations has shaped “our world for more than 75 years” and is increasingly a “key” element in relations between States. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has counted more than 80 million uprooted people worldwide, of whom nearly 30 million are refugees and asylum-seekers. It is a humanitarian crisis of such magnitude that it challenges human conscience, Henry said.The United States confirmed yesterday that there are no more migrants, mostly Haitians, in a makeshift camp weeks ago under a bridge on the border with México.Al town of Del Rio, in the state of Texas, thousands of migrants arrived this month, mostly Haitians, who crossed the Rio Grande on foot and concentrated on a camp installed under a bridge that connects with Ciudad Acuña, in Mexican territory.

Original source in Spanish