International Migrants Day - I8th December

18th December 2020

On 4 December 2000, the UN General Assembly (UNGA), taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed 18 December as International Migrants Day.

The day was selected to mark the anniversary of the 1990 adoption by UNGA of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

Migration is as old as human history and reflects a courageous desire to overcome adversity to live a better life. My personal experiences, as a daughter of migrant parents, has taught me just that. Today, globalisation and technological advances have contributed to more people being on the move than ever before. This has created both opportunities and challenges with 258 million international migrants counted globally in 2017, representing 3.4% of the world population.

In Scotland we have a warm tradition of welcoming migrants. Despite this we experienced a period of negative net migration from the 1950s until the late 1980s. However, from the early 2000s, by and in large we have experienced positive net migration. National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures show that in 2017-18 we had net migration of 20,900, increasing to 30,200 in 2018-19. This figure included migration