Déclaration d’ouverture : Vincenzo Mascioli, Directeur des Affaires internationales, Secrétariat d’Etat aux Migration de la Confédération suisse

My delegation, on behalf of the government and people of The Gambia is exceedingly honoured and profoundly grateful to be invited by the government of Switzerland to Co-Chair this landmark thematic meeting - on separation of families and missing persons in the context of migration: prevention, tracing and reunification. [...] My delegation wishes to acknowledge the participation and efforts of all partner countries of the Rabat Process, the European Union, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the United Nations Children's Fund for your immense and valuable con. [...] 1 Ladies and gentlemen, the need for an effective response to this tragedy- for respect of relevant domestic and international legal obligations and recognition of the rights of missing migrants and their families and the challenges they face has been widely and repeatedly acknowledged at regional and global levels. [...] In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to reflect and strategize procedures, mechanisms and frameworks in a bid to committing ourselves to the principles and objectives of the GCM, the Cadiz Action Plan and existing best practices and policies in tracing the families of separated migrants and searching for missing migrants while ensuring measures that would prevent people. [...] The issue of separation of families and missing persons is an integral part of the Rabat Process Cadiz Action Plan in its objective Objective 5b that aims to “Promote actions to respect the dignity and the human rights of migrants and persons in need of protection.” According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than half of the 55,000 deaths documented on global migration r.