Charity concert for the benefit of activities of the International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Director-General Swing,
Excellencies,
Musicians,
Ladies and gentlemen:

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the concert performed by the UN Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Antoine Marguier. It has been organized in partnership with the International Organization for Migration. The proceeds from the ticket sales will contribute to IOM’s activities for crisis-affected populations.  

I would like to transmit to you special greetings from Mr. Michael Møller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva. He regrets very much that he cannot be here with us tonight. Both the Director-General and myself have started our careers working with refugees. The dire situation of people, who - due to political conflict, or natural disasters, have left everything behind, and who have to rebuild their lives far from their home, leaves a strong, lasting impact on humanitarian workers. It serves as a powerful motivation to help ease the plight of crisis-affected people.

It is now my pleasure to share with you the following message of the Director-General, Mr. Michael Møller:

A warm welcome to this benefit concert for the International Organization of Migration. Let me first express my sincere gratitude to the esteemed UN Orchestra, whose performances here at the Victoria Hall are always a highlight. I commend the artistic talent of our UN colleagues. I salute their commitment in advancing the mandates of the United Nations, by dedicating their concerts to different causes, which we, the International Geneva, are addressing.
Tonight, the Orchestra will perform in support of the work of the International Organization of Migration, to the benefit of crisis-affected populations. I am also extremely grateful to Director-General Swing for his outstanding commitment to easing the plight of people facing displacement, especially his focus on assisting the most helpless among them.

The refugee and migration discussion has been marked by a very negative discourse. But in spite of tendencies to close borders and the ever-growing number of populist attacks, I am still hopeful! I believe that we can strengthen global solidarity and shared responsibility. I am hopeful that the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted last year by the UN General Assembly is the basis for a more predictable, sustainable and comprehensive refugee response framework. I am confident that we can negotiate a strong Global Compact on refugees and migrants by 2018, as the Declaration suggests. And I am also optimistic that our new Secretary-General, the previous High Commissioner for Refugees, will bring the necessary know-how and leadership to address the refugee and migration challenge within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, by focussing for example decisively on prevention.

I am, like many of you here in this room, a migrant myself! Having lived in different places around the globe has been an incredibly enriching and eye-opening experience for me. Joining together many different backgrounds and origins, is also the uniting feature of the UN Orchestra. These 70 musicians from 20 different countries symbolize the universal nature of music. I am very pleased that with tonight’s concert the topic of migration will be linked to a positive and pleasurable experience. So let us enjoy tonight’s concert, where we will hear Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano, followed by the Symphony no. 5 by Tchaikovsky featuring three soloists are Camille Berthollet (cello), Julie Berthollet (violin) and Melodie Zhao (piano).
Thank you for joining tonight’s concert in support of IOM’s important work around the world.

This is the end of the message from the Director-General.

I wish you all a very pleasant evening.

Thank you.