Statement by H.E. Ambassador Li Song at the 112th Session of the Council of the IOM
2021-11-30 17:30

Madam Chair,

Fellow delegates,

The Chinese delegation appreciates the Director General and his team for their assistance and support to member states in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. While the world is facing new threat of outbreak, we believe the IOM will meet the new challenges and continue to play its important role together with international community to strengthen emergency preparedness and response for migrants. The international community should continue to fight pandemic in solidarity. I’d like to make a few points:

Firstly, enhance international cooperation. We should continue to uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law, and strengthen the leadership and coordination role of IOM in global migration affairs. The virus respects no borders. We should also lend more support to developing countries in their fight against the pandemic and ensure vaccine accessibility and affordability.

Secondly, improve international migration governance. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration(GCM) needs to be implemented in line with the principle of state sovereignty and bearing in mind respective national conditions, with the aim to facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration.

Thirdly, address migration issues from development perspective. Countries of origin, transit and destination should strengthen coordination among them, prioritize measures of sanitation and prevention for cross-border personnel with a view to preventing further spread of the pandemic. Furthermore, when we resume our normal life and production, measures should be taken to facilitate immigrants’ participation in this process so as to unleash their potential to social-economic development, and to mitigate negative impact of the pandemic.

Last but not least, combat racial discrimination and hate crimes against migrants. Special attention has to be paid to some of the phenomenon which runs counter to the global efforts to solve the migration problems, such as deflecting responsibilities, stigmatizing, spreading misinformation, or even instigating pandemic-related racial discrimination and crimes. We need to create a fair and favorable living environment for migrants by firmly opposing any pandemic-related stigmatization or  politicization.

Madam Chair,

China has made tremendous efforts and managed to bring the pandemic under control. In the meantime, we launched large-scale emergency humanitarian operations, acting on the pledge to make vaccines a global public good,  providing over 1.7 billion doses of vaccines to more than 110 countries and international organizations. We introduced policies and measures to help foreign visitors to manage their stay in China such as automatically extending their visa validity. We have made every effort to provide medical observation and treatment service for them all without any discrimination. 

China attaches great importance to international cooperation on migration-related issues, and maintains sound cooperation with IOM. Under the frameworks, among others, the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund, tripartite cooperation with IOM was undertaken for the benefit of migration projects in relevant countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently put forward the Global Development Initiative at the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, calling on the international community to speed up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and for global development that is strong, green and sound. Let’s work together toward the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, and make migrants both contributors and beneficiaries of sustainable development.