Swiss Ambassador H.E. Paul Garnier - Egypt Today.
CAIRO – 29 November 2018: The Global Migration Film Festival kicked off on November 28 at the Swiss Office for International Cooperation.
Organized by the International Organization for Migration in collaboration with Switzerland's Embassy in Egypt, the festival witnessed the premiere of two short movies which are "Offside" and "Abu Adnan".
‘’It is definitely through films that we can capture the promises and challenges of migration for those who are leaving their homes and we saw that in the small films in search of a better life in addition to highlighting the contributions they necessary make to the hosting communities ’’ Swiss Ambassador H.E. Paul Garnier said at the beginning of the festival.
The Swiss Ambassador elaborated that the festival act as innovative way and creative avenue for discussions among the storylines of the festival’s movies.
‘’ I am particularly proud tonight that we have a short movie ‘’ Offside’’ directed by Swiss director that highlights a sport both Egypt and Switzerland like which is football’’ the Swiss ambassador recounted.
Garnier added that Switzerland prosperity come also from migrants. ‘’ We have today one fourth of the population of Switzerland which is composed of foreigners, and we owe the success of many of Switzerland’s businesses to migrants’’ the ambassador said.
According to some studies Syrian private industry invested in Egypt more than $ 800 million.
‘’Egypt has a leading role within the region in hosting migrants and refugees on its territories and is accommodating them based on the principalS of inclusion and coexistence with Egyptians while at the same time combating irregular migration and human trafficking’’ Garnier added.
The Swiss ambassador explained that the Switzerland involvement in the migration sector in Egypt started in 2011 by supporting Egypt pertaining to the basic needs of migrants.
‘’This can take the form of mobile clinics in Cairo for migrants or it takes the form of fostering business opportunities for Syrian refugees and their host communities in Alexandria, it is always impressive to see the businesses that are created by migrants and how it benefits the host community’’ the Swiss ambassador said.
Garnier elaborated that Switzerland, IOM and the Egyptian start up Baseeta are partnering in an online campaign to promote migrants contributions to society.
In addition Switzerland will implement in Egypt a regional program of cooperation pertaining to migration with Sudan, Eretria and Ethiopia as partners that will focus on the protection of youth and children.
The Swiss ambassador told Egypt Today that there are a lot of challenges that face migration nowadays.
"You have a lot of people on the move, and of course it is necessary to have opportunities for these people. You have many countries that have fears about the migrants, so it is also important to look at migration from another perspective, to look at migration from the perspective that it is a source of opportunities for many countries, and this is not easy," the Swiss ambassador told Egypt Today.
The Swiss ambassador explained that many people migrate for economic reasons, while other people migrate because of wars and conflicts, stressing that these people should be protected because they face many challenges, especially the children that are already very much vulnerable.
The ambassador added in his interview with Egypt Today that the opening ceremony movies proved that cinema effectively explains to people all about migration issues.
"It is definitely by having people express themselves and tell their stories that we can better understand the phenomenon from another perspective, not from the perspective of just having a phenomenon that is strange to us, but to really know how migrants think, what they feel, what difficulties they are facing."
"Tonight after watching these two short movies, we realize how much the human dimensions are sometimes forgotten when we talk about migration," he added.
The Swiss ambassador said that there is an active cooperation that is getting deeper by the day between Egypt and Switzerland pertaining to migration.
"We are working with the Egyptian government on several projects that help migrants and host communities.
Also, we are cooperating to create opportunities, mobile clinics, different programs that give the migrants access to education and raise their awareness about their rights and obligations in different contexts."
Migration is bringing money, because migrants are creating jobs. A study about migration said that migration contributes to 7 percent of the GDP of the developing countries.
Migration has a cost that has to be endured by the country receiving the migrant, but at the end as we have seen all over the world, migration is brining benefits. But migration has to be organized so that it doesn’t lead to negative effects.
"What is very interesting in Egypt is that in most of the cases the migrants are integrated in the communities where they live and have opportunities in these communities; this sometimes doesn’t happen in other countries," the Swiss ambassador explained, reiterating that in some countries they are kept aside and this is the biggest risk because then the positive effects of migration are actually not developing their full potential.
Comments
Leave a Comment