Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General candidate Maria Fernanda Espinosa told Sputnik that she is proposing the establishment of a migration and refugee clearinghouse to share and coordinate hemispheric policies, strategies and initiatives
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2020) Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General candidate Maria Fernanda Espinosa told Sputnik that she is proposing the establishment of a migration and refugee clearinghouse to share and coordinate hemispheric policies, strategies and initiatives.
"I think that we need to increase hemispheric coordination to work better together. I think that basically what I'm proposing is to create a clearinghouse of successful initiatives on migration and also for refugees at the hemispheric level," Espinosa said. "This should be a clearinghouse of successful policies, of successful projects and strategies, but also on regulatory and legal frameworks regarding migration. I'm proposing to establish that."
Espinosa, who served as president of the 73rd UN General Assembly and has led Ecuador's foreign affairs and defense ministries, believes OAS can really provide value on migration because every member is either a country of origin, transit and/or destination.
"By its nature migration requires a collective response... it is a cross-boundary issue," Espinosa said.
And the numbers in the hemisphere, she added, are "scary" - with 13 million refugees and close to 17 million migrants.
"We are speaking about large numbers of persons and the OAS has its specialized commission for migratory issues and it has a mandate to serve as a key forum of the OAS. And that has to look at the issue of migration from a holistic and balanced technical way. And I think that that's where we need to put an emphasis," Espinosa said.
Espinosa said the OAS commission, for example, could strengthen information sharing with UN refugee agencies and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Moreover, Espinosa continued, it is even more important to work on the preventive agenda.
"A preventive agenda precisely is to fight poverty and inequality and to build peaceful societies and to include youth in all the sustainable development plans and projects for the future," she said. "This is the most powerful action that we can have to prevent migration that is not wanted. I think we have to differentiate between forced migration and migration because you want to study or travel. I think the history of humanity is the history of migration. There is a lot of work to do on the migration front. I think the OAS is the right place to do it. And we have to team up and coordinate with global organizations that are working on such [issues]."
The election for OAS Secretary General is scheduled to take place on March 20. Espinosa will be facing two candidates - Peru's ambassador to the United States Hugo de Zela and Secretary General Luis Almagro.
