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UN-MIGRATION-POLITICS
UN to adopt migration pact at meeting hit by withdrawals
MARRAKESH, Morocco, Dec 10, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Politicians from around the
globe will gather Monday in Morocco for a major conference to endorse a
United Nations migration pact, despite a string of withdrawals driven by
anti-immigrant populism.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was finalised at
the UN in July after 18 months of talks and is due to be formally adopted
with the bang of a gavel at the start of the two-day conference in Marrakesh.
The US government disavowed the negotiations late last year, and since then
Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Hungary, Latvia,
Poland and Slovakia have pulled out of the process.
The US on Friday took a fresh swipe at the pact, labelling it “an effort by
the United Nations to advance global governance at the expense of the
sovereign right of states”.
But a host of other nations led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel are in
Morocco to endorse the deal and the UN remains upbeat that it can help the
world better cope with the hot-button issue.
On the eve of the conference, UN special representative for migration
Louise Arbour hit back at the pact’s critics, insisting the document is not
legally binding.
“It is surprising that there has been so much misinformation about what the
compact is and what the text actually says,” she told reporters in Marrakesh.
“It creates no right to migrate. It places no imposition on states,” she
said, adding that 159 member countries are due to attend the conference,
including “around 100” represented by heads of state, heads of government or
ministers.
– Criticism from right and left –
But rows over the accord have erupted in several European Union nations,
hobbling Belgium’s coalition government and pushing Slovakia’s foreign
minister to tender his resignation.
From the United States to Europe and beyond, right-wing leaders have taken
increasingly draconian measures to shut out migrants in recent years.
US President Donald Trump has pledged to build a wall on the US-Mexico
border and has focused his recent ire on a migrant caravan from Central
America, while a populist coalition government in Italy has clamped down on
boats rescuing migrants at sea.
Beyond Merkel, among European nations the leaders of Spain, Greece, Denmark
and Portugal are set to attend, although French President Emmanuel Macron is
sending his secretary of state for foreign affairs as he deals with the
“yellow vest” protests at home.
Belgium’s liberal premier Charles Michel won the support of parliament to
head to Morocco and back the accord, but he was left leading a minority
government on Sunday after the Flemish nationalist party said it will quit
his coalition over the pact.
Belgium is among a group of seven nations described by Arbour as still
“engaged in further internal deliberations” over the accord, with Bulgaria,
Estonia, Italy, Israel, Slovenia and Switzerland also falling into this
category.
Billed as the first international document on managing migration, the
global pact lays out 23 objectives to open up legal migration and discourage
illegal border crossings, as the number of people on the move globally has
surged to more than 250 million.
But while welcoming the UN’s attempts to manage migration, activists argue
that the pact does not go far enough to secure migrants’ rights.
“Unfortunately, the non-binding nature of the Global Compact on Migration
makes its implementation solely based on the goodwill of states supporting
it,” Amnesty International’s senior advocate for the Americas, Perseo Quiroz,
said in comments emailed to AFP.
After the Marrakesh conference, the UN General Assembly is set to adopt a
resolution formally endorsing the deal on December 19.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1003 hrs