Indonesia, EU Voice Concerns on Migration

Indonesian officials and and their European counterparts today shared major concerns on migration issues. They agreed that both Indonesia and European countries are facing significant challenges of migration, including in relation to trafficking and people smuggling.

"Migration is an issue that sits at a sensitive crossroads between domestic and foreign policy, raising issues such as the treatment of third country nationals, the economic importance of remittances, human rights, secure borders and the threat of terrorism," said Julian Wilson, Ambasador of the European Union (EU) to Indonesia and Brunei Darrussalam, in his speech at one-day international conference in Jakarta.

The conference, as stated by the EU Representative Office in Jakarta, was to explore issues related to migration and forced migration. Attended by several diplomats and experts, the conference also examined the "push" and "pull" factors driving migration, illegal and forced migration, including poverty, economic opportunity, regional development disparities, legal frameworks and emerging issues such as climate change.

The participants explored the impact that migration has on host communities, and the migrants themselves, and compared approaches taken to managing migration in the EU, Indonesia and ASEAN. They also shared opinion on likely changes in migration flows that need to be anticipated now in the EU and Indonesia.

"With such vital questions at stake, it is only natural that the EU and Indonesia – who are expanding their partnership based on shared values – collaborate more closely," Wilson said. In 2009 Indonesia and EU established a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in managing migratory flows.

The conference was attended by high-profile speakers, including State Minister for Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, Linda Amalia Sari, Professor Rainer Muenz, Senior Fellow at the Hamburg Institute of International Economics and Ambassador Makarim Wibisono, Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation and Chairman of the Governing Board of ICWA.

source : vivanews.com