Thank you for the question.
First of all, I think it is essential to review development cooperation policies and to implement more effective strategies to avoid forced displacements.
In my opinion, there are two key questions. The first concerns adaptation to climate change. We have to create the right conditions for societies to adapt to changes that are already unavoidable and to offer alternatives to migration.
The second issue is that we need a greater effort of community development in rural areas. Many development cooperation policies have encouraged rural populations to migrate to cities even if rural migration is the first step of the uprooting process. Once they go from the countryside to an urban setting, they tend to go from city to city elsewhere in the world. I believe cooperation to promote agricultural production has been greatly neglected. However it is not enough. We have to promote community development in rural areas so that migration becomes more of a choice than an inescapable fate.
This applies not only to migration, but also to refugee protection. I believe that people today have a somewhat schizophrenic vision of these issues in some areas of the world. It is certainly the case in Europe. I think Canada remains both an open country that considers the positive aspects of migratory movements and a very important asylum country for refugees and for people seeking a better life. In Europe however, there is an alarming shift in public opinion. If you ask European citizens whether they want to have more children, their answer is no. The fertility rate in a country such as mine has now dropped to 1.3 or 1.4. If you ask people if they are willing to work in a neighbouring restaurant, they will say no. In Geneva, I would find it difficult to imagine Swiss citizens accepting some of the jobs I am in contact with. The Swiss are not there, they have other jobs. However, if you ask them whether they want immigrants, their answer is no. This is truly a schizophrenic approach because the three negative answers lead to a dead end.
Moreover, the debate on immigration has become quite irrational in Europe, which is a great concern. It is a debate in which populism is taking root and that, in my opinion, leads to a psychological environment opposed not only to migratory movements but, even worse, to the protection of people who need international protection.
Recent events in a country such as Italy, mainly because of the deportation of people coming from other places, are very alarming. This is not the case everywhere, but in many parts of the developed world, issues relating to population movements are dealt with in a completely irrational fashion. Our organization is very concerned about that as we actively participate in the European debate. Our main purpose is to focus attention on the need for a rational debate and the need to realize that all societies are becoming multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious. This is unavoidable. However, many countries still do not understand that and think they can maintain an identity that is not based on diversity.