PH joins int’l community in mourning death of UN migration chief

DAVOS/SWITZERLAND, 27JAN11 – Peter D. Sutherland, Chairman, Goldman Sachs International, United Kingdom; Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, speaks during the session ‘China’s Impact on Global Trade and Growth’ at the Annual Meeting 2011 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 27, 2011. Copyright by World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/Photo by Michael Wuertenberg

MANILA — The Philippines has joined the international community in mourning the death of Peter Sutherland, former United Nations Secretary General Special Representative on International Migration and Development.

The 71-year old UN official died on Sunday, Jan. 7 in a hospital in Dublin, Ireland.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Sutherland’s departure is “a great loss” to the international migration community, especially as countries prepare negotiations for the global compact on safe, orderly and regular migration.

Permanent Representative to the UN Evan Garcia said Sutherland is best remembered in the Philippines for providing guidance to its chairmanship in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in 2008.

The leadership of the country in the forum has “firmly established the Philippines’ reputation as a leading country on international migration governance and in protection of human rights and promotion of welfare of migrants”, he said.

Sutherland has played a key role in setting up the Migrants in Countries in Crisis (MICIC) Initiative, which produced the Guidelines to Protect Migrants in Countries Experiencing Conflict or Natural Disaster.

The Philippines and the United States co-chaired the MICIC Initiative, established to formulate a voluntary set of guidelines that could be used by countries and other stakeholders in addressing protection gaps for migrants caught in countries experiencing crisis.