ROME, Dec 2 (KUNA) -- Representative of the Kuwaiti National Assembly Fares Al-Otaibi urged enhancing int'l parliamentary cooperation to tackle the immigration issues and approve the international charter on immigration.
The Mediterranean region and the world at large experience the biggest wave of illegal immigration since the World War II, he said in a speech to the seventh edition of the Rome MED - Mediterranean Dialogues this evening.
Al-Otaibi, rapporteur of the Kuwaiti parliamentary foreign affairs committee, made the speech before quitting the session during the speech of Israel's representative.
He regretted that thousands of people who were forced to immigrate illegally have lost their lives during their pursuit of hope.
"Illegal immigration, whatever its causes might be, has become a fait accompli which results in economic, security and demographical impacts on host countries," Al-Otaibi pointed out.
Millions of illegal immigrants continue to live in severe living conditions and suffer from various types of discrimination, he said, noting, that "this requires setting out on a well-calculated process to facilitate the integration of immigrants into host communities." "Otherwise, the world will definitely face the biggest humanitarian and economic disaster, which risks exacerbating the scarcity of natural resources, and jeopardizing the food and water security," he warned.
The Kuwaiti MP urged backing up the global charter on safe and orderly immigration as a way to protect the rights of immigrants and refugees and improve their living conditions.
He highlighted the need for the international community to share the responsibility for finding fairer and more effective solutions that could restore stability and security in the home countries of immigrants, thus creating the conditions for their voluntary return.
He also called for scaling up international support to the Arab and Muslim countries that bear the brunt of hosting the refugees who fled conflict in their countries.
Underling the need to address the root causes of instabilities, foremost among which is the Question of Palestine, he said the Palestinian people are suffering the ordeal of the Israeli occupation with millions of them living in refugee camps over the past decades.
After reaffirming the supportive stance of the Kuwaiti leaders, government and people to the fair demands of the Palestinian people, Al-Otaibi left the hall of the meeting upon the start of a speech by Israeli representative via a video link. (pickup previous) mn.gb