London. Six months later, he resigned from his post as UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration because of poor health. After a long illness, Sutherland died in Dublin on 7 January 2018, of complications from an infection, aged 71. Immigration policy Sutherland strongly advocated unrestricted immigration into the EU. Sutherland gave his opinion to the UK's House of Lords Home Affairs Committee on 21 June 2012 as being (a) that "at the most basic level individuals should have freedom of choice" about working and studying in other countries and that EU states should stop targeting "highly skilled" migrants (and, conversely, placing restrictions on low-skilled migrants). Sutherland also argued (b) that migration is a "crucial dynamic for economic growth" and that this is the case "however difficult it may be to explain this to the citizens of those states". Sutherland's stated opinions on policy were (a) that "it was fundamentally important for states to cooperate on migration policy rather than developing their own policies in isolation as 'no state is or can be an island (b) that multiculturalism is both inevitable and desirable: "It's impossible to consider that the degree of homogeneity which is implied by the other argument can survive because states have to become more open states, in terms of the people who inhabit them" and also (c) that "the European Union, in my view, should be doing its best to undermine" any "sense of our homogeneity and difference from others". An ageing or declining native population in countries like Germany or southern EU states was the "key argument and, I hesitate to the use word because people have attacked it, for the development of multicultural states", he added. Sutherland restated his view in the syndicated article co-authored with Cecilia Malmström titled "Europe's Immigration Challenge", the opening paragraph of which declares: In June 2014, Sutherland was appointed President of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC). Honours, awards and honorary doctorates Sutherland received a total of fifteen honorary doctorates from universities in Europe and America. Orders His awards include: Grand Cross of Order of Civil Merit (Spain, 1989) Knight of the Legion of Honour (France, 1993) Grand Cross of Order of Leopold II (Belgium, 1989) Commandeur of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite (Morocco, 1994) Order of Rio Branco (Brazil, 1996) Grand Cross of the Order of Infante Dom Henrique (Portugal, 1998) Honorary Knighthood of the Order of