Global economic downturn putting migrants at risk: Ban

Global economic downturn putting migrants at risk: Ban: "United Nations, Dec 18 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed that migrants were highly vulnerable to the global economic crisis.”The world’s more than 200 million migrants are especially vulnerable to the financial downturn shaking the global economy,” Ban said on the occasion of the International Migrants day.

“The crisis in markets has put them (migrants) at greater risk of destitution, stigmatization, discrimination and abuse. Reports of layoffs and lower remittances only begin to tell the story of the human suffering that this crisis has wrought,” he said in a statement issued to the press.

“Moreover, migration policies are growing ever more restrictive. We continue to see the criminalisation of irregular migrants. And all too often, migrants are being dealt with primarily from the perspective of security."