UN reaches agreement on Global Compact for Migration

UN Member States on Friday, July 13 reached a historic agreement on migration; endorsing the final text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

The symbolic knock of the gavel performed by the Swiss and Mexican UN Ambassadors emphatically concluded the intergovernmental negotiations on the Global Compact, UN agencies said in a media release.

The Swiss Ambassador Jürg Lauber and his Mexican colleague, Ambassador Juan José Gómez Camacho, served as co-facilitators of the process and led both the broadbased substantive consultations in the year 2017 as well as the intergovernmental negotiations that have taken place in six rounds between February and July 2018, it said. The decision has a profound impact on Sri Lanka given that more than 1.5 million workers are based in West Asia as labour migrants.

At an Intergovernmental Conference, in Marrakesh, Morocco, on December 10-11, 2018, Heads of States and Governments will formally adopt the Global Compact for Migration, heralding the implementation of this first global framework for cooperation on international migration that addresses the phenomenon in all its dimensions.

The Global Compact aims to facilitate migration that is safe, orderly and regular, while reducing the impact and incidence of irregular migration by taking into account the needs of migrants, communities and States, the release said.

Acknowledging that no State can address the challenges and opportunities of migration alone, the Global Compact recognises that concerted international cooperation is required to effectively anticipate and collectively respond to migration movements, optimise the contributions of migrants to sustainable development and protect the human rights of migrants, while safeguarding borders, national laws and the interests of societies.