UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior United Nations (UN) official said Monday that migration is a persistent "global phenomenon" that needs global efforts to tackle.

"We have heard harrowing accounts of smuggling and trafficking," UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak told the opening of the fifth and final informal interactive multi-stakeholder hearing on migration at the UN Headquarters.

The hearings are part of work towards a global compact "on safe, orderly and regular migration."

"We have discussed migration from both national and regional perspectives. We have talked about the dangers of misinformation and the need for an evidence-based approach. And we have reinforced that migration affects all of society so all of society is needed, to respond."

Acknowledging that migration "is here to stay," Lajcak said the phenomenon is neither a trend nor a phase, and won't disappear overtime. He called for a "global response" to tackle the issue.

The UN official also suggested that his colleagues take lessons from past experiences, since addressing the migration issue dates back centuries ago.

"People have migrated for centuries. That means we have centuries of policies and practices, trials and errors, successes and failures to learn from," Lajcak said.