Ban Ki-moon: Improve immigrants' lives

ATHENS, Greece, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday made a plea for strengthening global efforts to create a better future for immigrants.

He told the third U.N.-supported Global Forum on Migration and Development in Athens that immigrants were hurt by the global financial crisis more than the population at large. He encouraged nations to ensure their health, happiness and prosperity were safeguarded.

Ban said vulnerable migrants such as women and children, who he said suffer degradation, are pushed into forced labor, prostitution and even organ removal to survive, the Athens News Agency reported.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou opened the conference Wednesday telling the forum that all children born to immigrants in Greece would automatically acquire Greek citizenship from now on.

"Growth and migration are inextricably linked," Papandreou said, stressing the importance immigrants make to the Greek economy.

It was unclear if the parents of these children would also acquire citizenship, the Athens newspaper I Kathimerini reported.

European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot told the gathering the European Union would fund the creation and operation of a system to efficiently process the asylum claims of thousands of immigrants arriving in Greece.