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Forum addresses migration issues
By Li Xiaowei (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-25 05:53
By SHANGHAI: China is willing to strengthen co-operation with Asian and
Pacific countries to properly address the issue of refugees, displaced persons
and illegal migration, according to Shen Guofang, assistant minister of Foreign
Affairs.
He added that China has provided proper protection to nearly 300,000
Indo-Chinese refugees for many years, and cracked down hard on transnational
criminal activities such as people smuggling and human trafficking,
Shen made the remarks at the 10th plenary meeting of the Inter-Governmental
Asia-Pacific Consultations on Refugees, Displaced Persons and Migrants (APC)
held in Shanghai from October 24th to 25th.
"In order to properly address the issue of refugees, displaced persons and
migration, all countries of the international community should first of all
jointly commit themselves to safeguarding world peace and stability, vigorously
promote the realization of MDGs (the United Nation's Millennium Development
Goals) and common development, and bridge the gap between the rich and poor,
with a view to completely removing the root causes of the problem," said Shen.
International co-operation based on the principle of "international
solidarity, responsibility sharing, mutual respect, equality and mutual
benefit," and giving full play to the role of international organizations such
as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), International
Organization for Migration and regional arrangements, are also essential in
tackling the issue, added Shen.
UNHCR remains fully committed to its role in support of the APC. It hopes to
see an active work plan developed by the APC member states on issues such as
tackling the asylum-migration nexus, building or enhancing national protection
capabilities and identifying and implementing durable solutions, said Neil
Wright, the UNHCR regional representative for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea and the South Pacific.
The APC was established in 1996 to provide a forum for the discussion of
issues relating to population movements. China holds the 2005 APC chairmanship.
(China Daily 10/25/2005 page2)
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