IOM film festival celebrates, recognises migrants worldwide

AMMAN — Commemorating International Migrants Day, which falls on December 18 each year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) concluded the third edition of the Global Migration Film Festival on Wednesday in Amman.

The festival, which took place on December 16, 17 and 18 at the Global Columbia Centres in Amman, was themed “Social Cohesion: Recognising migration is a benefit that works for all”.

Nevin Wilson, the IOM’s Acting Chief of Mission, said: “Jordan has repeatedly demonstrated its long-established and recognised tradition of generosity and hospitality towards migrants and refugees from the region and worldwide. It is a powerful model of social cohesion.”

In its third edition in Jordan and its fourth worldwide, the festival’s programme included five movie screenings and presentations by the Sri Lankan and Canadian embassies.

According to statistics presented at the closing ceremony, the year 2019 has witnessed the creation of an estimated 272 million migrants, as a result of conflict, labour, education and personal reasons.

“Making up 30 per cent of the world’s population, these migrants contribute 9 per cent to the global GDP. So, it is about time that their efforts and contributions to the economies of their host and home countries are recognised,” said Counselor and Migration Programme Manager at the Embassy of Canada Erin Brouse during the ceremony.

She noted that although Canada’s 2019-2021 plan to receive over 725,000 refugees is “a testament to its commitment to those refugees, it has hardly faced any real challenges in receiving them”.

“However, for a country such as Jordan, which is 121 times smaller than Canada, being the second largest host for refugees per capita is truly a challenging act,” she said.

In coordination with UNRWA, Jordanian and Palestinian students had an opportunity to participate and share their views about migration.

Aisha Salma, a Sustainable Development Goals advocate representing UNRWA, said that she “hopes stereotyping and discrimination against refugees will end, so that we can all realise that we are powerful together”.