Her statement was made during a significant meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where she emphasized the importance of protecting the rights of refugees and migrants regardless of their status. She praised UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for organizing the first-ever Summit on Refugees and Migrants, highlighting the need for mutual trust, shared responsibility, and inclusiveness to address the refugee crisis. The prime minister also called on countries to come to a consensus on universal principles during the summit, where the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants was adopted by delegations from around the world. The text outlines bold commitments to address current issues and prepare for future challenges, including initiating negotiations for an international conference on migration in 2018, protecting the human rights of refugees and migrants, ensuring education for refugee and migrant children, preventing gender-based violence, supporting countries hosting refugees, ending the detention of children for migration status, finding new homes for refugees needing resettlement, and strengthening global governance of migration. Sheikh Hasina emphasized the need for a robust and action-oriented blueprint to deal with large movements of refugees, within a broader development context. Migration should be seen as a reality and freedom enhancer, and a Global Compact on Migration should address gaps in migration governance and align with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She stated that the proposed migration compact should include ambitious and enforceable elements and modalities, while also being balanced and flexible. She emphasized the importance of promoting tolerance and understanding to accommodate migrants and refugees, and noted that the compact must address the protection needs of those displaced by climate change. As the current Chair of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, Bangladesh is willing to contribute to the development of the agreement. Prior to addressing the plenary session, the prime minister met with Myanmar's State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, Aung San Suu Kyi. Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Janet Scotland also visited her at the headquarters of the United Nations.