FULL SPEECH: President John Dramani Mahama addresses the UN General Assembly

President John Dramani Mahama has called out what he described as hypocrisy in global migration policies, highlighting the unequal treatment of refugees from different regions of the world.

Delivering Ghana’s address at the 80th United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, September 25, Mahama criticised Western nations for their swift acceptance of Ukrainian refugees while showing reluctance toward Africans displaced by war and climate crises.

He drew particular attention to the ongoing conflict in Sudan, which the UN has described as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, displacing 12 million people.

“When we speak of migration, we refer to the 12 million new refugees, whom we, as a global community, should be willing to assist in much the same way that many member nations readily assisted new refugees from Ukraine,” he said.

Mahama stressed that many migrants from the Global South are climate refugees, yet the Global North — responsible for emitting 75 percent more greenhouse gases — bears less of the burden. “When the desert encroaches and our villages and towns become unlivable, we are forced to flee,” he explained, insisting that the world must not normalise xenophobia and racism.

The Ghanaian leader further urged a balanced narrative on migration, pointing to the successes of immigrants of African descent.