Phl adopts UN Global Compact for Migration
The Philippines joined 163 countries in adopting the United Nations Global Compact for Migration, now known as the Marrakech Compact, to set in place a voluntary international framework that will manage migration and provide decent treatment for millions of migrants worldwide.
The landmark Global Compact for Migration was adopted on Monday by leading representatives from 164 governments at an international conference in Marrakesh, Morocco that will help prevent suffering and chaos of migrants.
The adoption of the compact coincided with the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that is central to the pact.
The Philippines supported the first migration deal, given the needs of the estimated 10 million Filipinos residing or working in almost all countries of the world.
The document, though nonbinding, will set in place a voluntary international framework that will manage migration in an acceptable and implementable manner by all states.
The Philippines lauded 163 governments for the adoption of the first migration deal that paves the way for managed and safer migration for all.
“Thank you for adopting the Global Compact of Decency for Migrants. Our fears are allayed. Our hopes are raised,” said Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. at the Intergovernmental Conference to adopt a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
He said that the adoption of the Philippine-backed Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) defeated the notion that migration is bad by showing that migrants have been useful additions to host countries.
“These are days of fear, fury and confusion. Some of our friends in today’s endeavor have withdrawn under pressure from their constituencies. And they must indeed respond to them for we are democracies,” Locsin said.
The Philippines, he said, was not discouraged as the GCM enjoys near universal support and those not yet ready to commit recognize the clear need to discuss migration.
“We have defeated the notion that migration is bad; quite the opposite. And we did this with facts and not frightful fantasies of losses of jobs no Westerner would take. We did it with reason by showing that migrants have been useful additions to host countries,” Locsin added.
“Not fear but facts shaped our perception; reason not passion distinguished discussion at the UN if nowhere else, and we should be proud to acknowledge that a decent regard for the opinion of mankind dictated our decision to adopt the Global Compact today,” he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the adoption, saying that it was high time the international community came to a more realistic understanding of global migration.
Merkel warned the people that the “go it alone approach will not solve the issue,” stressing that multilateralism is the only possible way forward.
The Philippines actively participated in the negotiations for a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration given the needs of overseas Filipino workers.
Along with climate change, unregulated migration has become a pressing issue in recent years. Every year, thousands of migrants lose their lives or go missing on perilous routes, often falling victim to smugglers and traffickers.
UN senior migration official Louise Arbour, tasked with overseeing the process, applauded the adoption, calling it a “wonderful occasion, really a historic moment and a really great achievement for multilateralism.”
She congratulated member- states for working “very hard to resolve differences, to understand the complexities of all questions related to human mobility for the last 18 months.”
Arbour, the UN Special Representative for International Migration, said the compact will make an enormous positive impact in the lives of millions of people – migrants themselves, the people they leave behind and the communities that will then host them. She revealed that this will depend on the implementation of the global compact’s initiatives.
Representing civil society and youth at the conference opening, children right’s activist Cheryl Perera spoke of her volunteer work against child trafficking. She urged the delegates to make full use of the opportunity the Global Compact for Migration provides.