UN migration pact clears another hurdle amid criticism
▶ Global Compact has backing of 164 countries, but with notable absences
The first UN agreement setting up a common framework on the management of international migration flows was formally adopted yesterday as a two-day intergovernmental conference began in Marrakech, Morocco.
Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita, who was elected president of the conference, announced the endorsement of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration to a roar of applause.
But criticism of 23 objectives outlined in the document were raised by several countries, some of which did not attend.
Representatives of 164 of the 193 UN member states arrived at the Bab Ighli conference centre yesterday to affirm their support for the global migration deal.
Ten countries have formally notified the UN of their decision to pull out of the process – Austria, Australia, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Chile and the United States.
US President Donald Trump, who also chose not to attend the Cop24 summit on climate change in Poland last week, was the first to voice opposition to the pact in December last year.
The governments of Bulgaria, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland are still debating the matter. Estonia recently broadcast a two-hourlong reading of the compact after a dispute over its contents flared up in parliament, while in Slovakia the foreign minister was pushed to tender his resignation.
Belgium is the latest country to face political upheaval over the migration agreement, with Prime Minister Charles Michel’s coalition collapsing on Sunday when the New Flemish Alliance, a nationalist party, quit in protest.
“I stand here before you without a parliamentary majority backing my government,” Mr Michel told the conference.
The Alliance, which is in favour of speeding up the deportation of migrants from Belgium, argued that taking part in the pact meant giving up sovereignty over the country’s borders.
Despite his coalition partners’ volte face, two thirds of the Belgian parliament supported the agreement, Mr Michel said.
“In the name of my country, I assure you that Belgium is committed to supporting this migration pact.”
The migration compact drew little attention when it was finalised and approved by all UN member states except the US after 18 months of negotiations. But as the date for its formal announcement in Marrakech drew closer and states began pulling out, the document became a burning issue.
Louise Arbour, the UN secretary general’s special representative for international migration, expressed disappointment at the row that ensued.
“We are not establishing a new right to migrate. No. There is not a right for anyone to go anywhere at any time,” she said. “What we are establishing is the obligation to respect the human rights of migrants – which of course is absolutely obvious when we at the same time celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
Before the conference opened, she said that “you can’t convince those who cannot be persuaded”.
Ms Arbour also said that the decision of some countries not to be present in Marrakech was a symbolic step that did little in practice to distance them from a text that had already been unanimously approved.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed her commitment to the agreement despite facing criticism from the farright AfD party.
“The compact clearly aims to combat illegal migration and the trafficking of human beings,” Mrs Merkel said. “We as countries cannot accept that whether a migrant manages or not to cross a border is decided by traffickers.”
The compact will now be sent to the General Assembly, which will adopt a resolution by December 19 to formally endorse the deal.
In ancient Greece, the word “xenos” denoted a stranger who should be welcomed into the home and treated hospitably. It wasn’t until the 19th century that it became synonymous with xenophobia, or fear of strangers – a term that has, tragically, come to symbolise our modern-day treatment of those who look or behave differently. It is possible to tell a great deal about a country from the way it treats foreigners – whether it greets them with compassion and understanding or with hostility. The storm engulfing the United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which was formally adopted in Marrakech yesterday, demonstrates how talk alone of our treatment of migrants can still bring tensions to boiling point.
The non-binding document should have been fairly innocuous, enshrining what should be considered basic principles of decency and fair treatment. Its 23 objectives lay out the importance of minimising the adverse factors that compel people to leave their homeland in the first place and call for greater international co-ordination to prevent people-smuggling and manage borders. Yet discussions over the compact, which took 18 months to finalise, have become so heated, they have caused a government to crumble in Belgium, sparked the resignation of Slovakia’s foreign minister and prompted US president Donald Trump to pull out of negotiations last year. Ten countries have so far failed to ratify the agreement, including the US, Australia and Israel, all countries that exist today because of the hard work of migrant populations. Behind their protestations lies a wilful misreading of the agreement. It does not violate the sovereignty of states and refers not to refugees but the 258 million migrants who, in the overwhelming majority of cases, go on to work and contribute to the societies in which they settle.
Right-wing populists have been successful in stoking fears of migration with hate-filled rhetoric. They show disdain for the many benefits of global migration, which fills skills gaps and sustains economic growth. Hardworking migrants inject vitality and innovation into labour markets and support ageing populations. UN special representative for migration Louise Arbour sought to mollify critics by playing down the agreement’s obligations. The document, she insisted, “creates no right to migrate” and “places no imposition on states”. The compact will lack the teeth to implement its suggestions but stands as a powerful prism through which to view the world’s response to migration. It is not too late to remind the world of a fundamental truth: that migration has built the world we know today.