It wasn’t until photographs of a drowned Aylan Kurdi went viral that the world began to really notice: He was a boy, a person. They — the migrants, the immigrants, the refugees, the asylum seekers — they are all people.

Just days before, the dead body of another toddler was discovered alongside 70 others in the back of a truck in Austria. Suffocated, and abandoned. This past summer, the UN Refugee Agency estimates that 2,500 people have died on the journey across the Mediterranean in search of safety.

We are facing the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. The situation in Syria alone has left nearly 3 million people stranded across camps and cities in neighboring countries and 6.5 million internally displaced. Yes, they may be asylum seekers, refugees, migrants or immigrants, but first they are Aylan Kurdi. They are you, me, our children, our siblings, our nieces and nephews. Why are we waiting for their deaths to grant them personhood?

Aylan’s death sparked the beginning of a collective recognition. We now have a choice. We can let that spark live a short life and then die out, or we can fan the flames and build a global conscience.

Families like Aylan's have been desperately seeking our help for years. In the case of Syria, the international community has stood idly by for more than four years while the country has been torn to pieces. And now that some of these people and others are on our shores, what stands between them and a chance at a decent life, is our inability to recognize them as people. Not a lack of space; not a lack of jobs; not a lack of know-how to deal with rising populations. We have everything we need at our disposal to be gracious hosts.

Yet, governments are falling woefully short of meeting their responsibilities. While a few are making genuine efforts, the majority are token exercises aimed to quell rising disapproval at inaction. Committing to accept 10,000 people over the next year, or 20,000 over the next five years is laughable. Except it’s tragic.  

All European countries, the North American States, Gulf States, and yes, even the countries way down under, can and must live up to their responsibilities. Our leaders need to hear very loudly, and very clearly, that this is what we want.

On 30 September 2015, world leaders will be gathered at the United Nations in New York to discuss the ongoing migration crisis. The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, will host this meeting with national governments, to discuss best practices in responding to migration and refugee flows in the short and long-term. This is a unique moment to transform the narrative. Let it be a best practice that all nations — big and small, rich and poor — treat people as people first.

They need to hear this from us, the global citizens. It’s a give and take: we have a responsibility to tell leaders what we want and why it’s important. Bold leadership is born out of demand. Join this call to action, and we will deliver at least one million signatures to leaders, paving the way for a transformation of the global narrative. We'll call them people. 

Visit our website at www.callthempeople.org