What obligations do rich nations have when it comes to refugees?

What obligations do rich nations have when it comes to refugees? | GZERO World

The recent tragedy of the migrant boat that sunk off the coast of Italy and killed 64 people raises an important question: are European leaders taking the right approach to prevent migrants from risking their lives in the first place? On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer and David Miliband, the President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, discuss the complex and urgent nature of the migrant crisis and the need for effective solutions.

Miliband notes that migration is not just a European issue but a global one, with people “on the move more than ever before” due to persecution, war, and disaster. He emphasizes the need to “balance fairness with humanity” and “fulfill legal as well as moral obligations for people who have been driven from their homes.”

To address this challenge, Miliband outlines four key elements to fair, humane migration: fast processing of asylum claims, proper integration of those allowed to stay, addressing criminal elements that exploit the lack of legal migration routes, and creating legal routes for asylum-seekers and migrants to travel safely.

Miliband predicts that migration will be one of the biggest challenges for the rest of this century, as people in countries with a per capita income of less than $7,000 will continue to seek a better life elsewhere.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Challenge of survival/Problem of governance: Aid for Turkey & Syria

More from GZERO Media

Firefighters work at the site where an industrial area was hit by a Russian missile strike in the Kyiv region on Nov. 13, 2024.
Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv region/Handout via REUTERS

On Wednesday, Russia attacked Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, with both missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days, forcing some residents to take shelter in the city’s metro stations deep underground. No one was killed, but the attack suggests Russia intends to intensify the psychological war it’s waging on Ukrainian civilians.

Jess Frampton

While the United States was still busy counting votes, Germany’s ruling coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz suddenly fell apart last Wednesday, plunging Europe’s largest economy into chaos.

- YouTube

North Korea ratified a major defense treaty with Russia. What do both sides hope to gain? Japan's PM survived a rare parliamentary vote. How will he tackle the country's sluggish economy? What do I expect to come from COP29, the new climate summit happening in Baku? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks as Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump reacts during a rally at the site of the July assassination attempt against Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria

The move raises immediate questions about conflicts of interests, particularly given the billions Musk’s companies receive in the form of lucrative government contracts.

Graphic of exit poll data
Luisa Vieira

The votes are still being tallied following Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election, but looking at preliminary voter data gives clues to what happened in the American electorate last week.

Palestinians carry an aid box distributed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024.
REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to serve as US ambassador to Israel.