[STATEMENT] International Migrants Day
Migrants, Collectively Fight for Our Rights and Dignity Against Imperialism!
International Migrants Alliance (IMA)
18 December 2025
As we commemorate International Migrants Day on this date, we in the International Migrants Alliance (IMA) raise our collective voice to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to defend the rights of migrants to justice, to a dignified life and to an inclusive and intercultural social environment free of violence, discrimination and racism. At the same time, we denounce the continued neoliberal attacks against migrants and their families.
The insatiable greed of the capitalists, their neoliberal economic policies and chronic and abusive foreign debts contracted with the permission of corrupt rulers in the developing countries of the global south have impoverished working people, driving millions into forced migration as governments and private corporations treat workers as export commodities and migrant remittances as profit. Migrants often receive miserable wages, work in unsafe living and working conditions, are subject to trafficking, discrimination, and denial of access to basic rights and services. Meanwhile, imperialist wars—from the ongoing genocide in Palestine to aggression in West Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific —continue to displace entire communities, causing exodus of migrants and refugees who must then face risky journeys, militarised borders, threats of detention, and denial of rights .
The escalating aggression of far-right politicians, deepened after the Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency and reflected in the rise of reactionary forces in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, has intensified xenophobia, mass deportations, and the use of racist scapegoating by elites.The same forces that imposed security and restrictive policies on migration and thus encouraged the expansion of human trafficking networks and organized crime are now presenting themselves as the bearers of public order and citizen security with the recourse to states of emergency and militarization supported by the US Army and its NATO allies. In this context, migrants are criminalised, asylum seekers are pushed back into danger, and refugees are inhumanely treated.
At the same time, climate imperialism—rooted in the plunder by imperialist nations and corporations of the Global South’s lands, waters, and resources—displaces millions each year while the wealthy 1% fortify their borders and continue to worsen the crises they benefit from.
Faced with these scenarios, we will not retreat. We join the frontline in advancing and defending our rights and dignity. Throughout 2025, we launched campaigns against U.S. militarism and anti-migrant repression across the world. Our organising efforts culminated in our historic 6th Global Assembly in Kathmandu, Nepal, where 164 delegates from 28 countries united to share and discuss analyses, adopted our General Program of Action, welcomed 44 new member organisations, and reaffirmed our mission to confront imperialism in all its forms.
This year’s 9 Days of Migrant and Refugee Activism—from International Human Rights Day to International Migrants Day—has shown once again the strength of our global solidarity. Through coordinated actions, political education, cultural events, and public mobilisations, we continue to organise our fellow migrants, refugees, and displaced peoples worldwide.
On this International Migrants Day, the IMA issues the following calls:
• End forced migration!
• End imperialist wars, plunder, and occupation!
• Stop mass deportations, border militarisation, and migrant criminalisation!
• Close all migrant detention centers!
• Uphold labour rights, living wages, and dignity for all migrant workers!
• Defend refugees’ rights to safety, justice and dignified life!
• Resist fascism, racism, xenophobia, and all forms of discrimination!
• Fight climate imperialism and protect communities displaced by environmental destruction!
• Strengthen global grassroots solidarity against exploitation and oppression!
Fellow migrants, refugees, and displaced peoples: our struggle is inseparable from the struggles of workers, peasants, women, youth, Indigenous peoples, and all oppressed peoples resisting imperialism—the primary being U.S. imperialism.
As we look toward the new year, we deepen our commitment to build a stronger, broader, and more militant global movement capable of liberating ourselves from exploitation and creating a world where migration is truly a choice—not a necessity for survival.
Let’s break the chains of forced migration!
Long live the global migrant and peoples’ movement!
Long live international solidarity!
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