UN adopts migration pact
- Developed countries need more migration due to their declining birth rates: Guterres
- UN deal lays out 23 objectives to open up legal migration
A United Nations conference adopted a migration pact in front of leaders and representatives from around 150 countries in Morocco yesterday, despite a string of withdrawals driven by anti-immigrant populism.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration -- finalised at the UN in July after 18 months of talks -- was formally approved with the bang of a gavel in Marrakesh at the start of a two day conference.
But the United States and 15 other countries either opted out or expressed concerns, with some claiming the pact infringes national sovereignty.
Billed as the first international document on managing migration, it 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.
Describing it as a "roadmap to prevent suffering and chaos", UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres sought to dispel what he called a number of myths around the pact, including claims that it will allow the UN to impose migration policies on member states.
The pact "is not legally binding", he said. "It is a framework for international co-operation... that specifically reaffirms the principle of state sovereignty.
"We must not succumb to fear and false narratives", he told an audience that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela and Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras.
He also said developed countries needed more migration due to their declining birth rates and aging populations.
Merkel launched an impassioned defence of the pact and multilateralism, saying her country "through Nazism brought incredible pain to humanity".
On Friday, the US hit out at the pact, labelling it "an effort by the United Nations to advance global governance at the expense of the sovereign right of states".
It was the first country to disavow 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 pact has been welcomed by the Catholic Church as an important step towards addressing migrants' needs and reducing their vulnerability.
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