Over 100 nations urge safe migration
More than 100 nations have approved a declaration calling on governments to intensify efforts for safe and orderly migration, crack down on human smuggling and trafficking, and ensure that migrants are respected and receive health care and other services.
The 13-page declaration was adopted by consensus by U.N. member nations attending a four-day meeting to review the first international agreement dealing with migration. The Global Compact was approved by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2018, and participants at this week’s meeting recommended that the 193-member world body also endorse Friday’s declaration in the coming months.
Assembly President Abdulla Shahid said many migrants leave their countries to find work while others are forced to leave due to violence, poverty, environmental degradation and climate change.
“Regardless of their circumstances, the international community has a responsibility to ensure that the human rights of everyone involved are respected,” he told a news conference earlier Friday.
The declaration expresses concern “that progress achieved in facilitating and harnessing the benefits of safe, orderly and regular migration is slow and uneven in many areas” and stresses that “greater efforts are needed by member states to develop ambitious national responses for the implementation of the Global Compact.”
Antonio Vitorino, director-general of the International Organization for Migration, told a news conference before the adoption that there are several areas where “an extra push” is needed to make the vision of the Global Compact a reality: “respect for human rights, access to basic services, alternatives to the detention of migrants and, above all, I would emphasize, saving lives.”
The declaration said as many as 281 million people were international migrants in 2020 globally, of whom 48% were women and girls and 15% were under the age of 20. It recognized “the value and dignity of the labor of all migrant workers in all sectors,” and said they transferred over $751 billion in remittances, which are “a critical source of support for families and communities,” to their home countries.
President Joe Biden is tending to both business and security interests Sunday as he wraps up a three-day visit to South Korea, showcasing Hyundai’s pledge to build a $5.5 billion electric vehicle and battery factory in Georgia and visiting U.S. and South Korean troops monitoring the rapidly evolving North Korean nuclear threat.
The major U.S. investment by a South Korean company, which was formally unveiled in Georgia on Friday, is a reflection of how the U.S. and South Korea are leveraging their longstanding military ties into a broader economic partnership.
The U.S. president has made greater economic cooperation with South Korea a priority, saying on Saturday that “it will bring our two countries even closer together, cooperating even more closely than we already do, and