Ministers and parliamentarians from the Commonwealth, including Tonga, spoke at a panel on Migration in the Commonwealth: International Movement and Human Rights Challenges and Opportunities, at the United Nations General Assembly on 18 September in New York.

Tonga represented by Lord Fusitu’a, joined Kenya, Bangladesh and the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, in raising the issue of international migration.

The South Pacific, East Africa, Southern Africa and Caribbean regions of the Commonwealth are particularly vulnerable to migration based on the effect of climate change.

Secretary-General Scotland said Commonwealth states are particularly vulnerable to climate-induced migration.

"Climate change vulnerability indices repeatedly list Commonwealth regions, especially countries like Tonga, Tuvalu and Kiribati as the most vulnerable."

She said international migration is a complex issue and is affected by several factors. Political, economic, violent extremism and terrorism, as well as climate change.

The benefits cannot be unlocked unless deliberate and intelligently designed migration governance structures are put in place.

She said leaders agreed to increase national and international efforts to tackle the causes of irregular migration at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta last year. Actions included the prevention of violent extremism and terrorism, combating organized crime, ending human trafficking and modern day slavery while reinforcing the respect for human rights.

"At a national level it requires states to adopt, amend existing legislation that domesticates internationally agreed migration standards. We need to make sure that while addressing the irregular migration brought on my violent extremism and terrorism, we protect the rights of the most vulnerable."

Migration remains a big challenge for the Commonwealth with 80 percent of refugees in the developing world with Pakistan hosting more than 1.7 million refugees - more than any other country in the world. 

While, African countries account for 40 percent of all Internationally Displaced Persons with more than 850,000 asylum seekers worldwide, nearly 200,000 are present in South Africa alone.

So far, just 48 UN member states have ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. Some 13 of these are Commonwealth member states and the Secretary-General urged more countries to sign up, stated the Commonwealth Secretariat.