UN finalizes first ever global compact for migration

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The UN member states finalized text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration Friday, marking the first time they came together to negotiate an agreement covering all dimensions of international migration.

On the conclusion of the talks, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the agreement is a "significant achievement" that reflects shared understanding that "cross-border migration is, by its very nature, an international phenomenon and that effective management of this global reality requires international cooperation to enhance its positive impact for all."

Earlier Friday, in her remarks to the final round of the talks, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said "this compact demonstrates the potential of multilateralism: our ability to come together on issues that demand global collaboration - however complicated and contentious they may be."

At a press briefing after the finalization, UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak said the compact "can guide us from a reactive to a proactive mode," adding "it can be a resource in finding the right balance between the rights of people and the sovereignty of states."

Also at the briefing, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration Louise Arbour said "chaotic, dangerous exploitative aspects" of human mobility cannot be allowed to become a new normal. "The implementation of the compact will bring safety, order and economic progress to everyone's benefit."

Currently, over 250 million migrants worldwide account for 3 percent of the world's entire population, but contribute 10 percent of the global gross domestic production.

Migrants' remittance is a huge contributor to their home countries' development. According to Arbour, migrants send back 15 percent of what they earn, and of the 600 billion U.S. dollars of their annual remittance, 460 billion dollars flow to developing countries, three times more than rich countries' Official Development Assistance to poorer ones.

In the meantime, not all migration decisions are made by choice. many of them are made by necessity. Since 2000, more than 60,000 people have died on journeys -- either at sea or on land -- seeking better lives, and over 68 million have been forcibly displaced by armed conflict and persecution, the most since World War II.

Friday's compact sets out 23 objectives to deal issues ranging from factors that compel people to move, legal channels for migration, combating trafficking and smuggling, harnessing the economic benefits of migration and return of the migrants.

The document, though not legally binding, is the first intergovernmental agreement to cover wide-ranging dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner, agreed upon by all the UN member states minus the United States.

The United States quit taking part in developing the compact late last year, saying it undermined its sovereignty. Lajcak said "we will keep the door open for the United States to come back" at the briefing.

For the past few days, UN member states had been in the sixth and final round of negotiations on the compact, where Arbour said the talks were rational, grounded in reality and respectful. The finalized text is slated to be adopted at an intergovernmental conference in Morocco on Dec. 10-11.

Arbour expects the Morocco conference will serve as launchpad for initiatives, partnerships and concrete applications at national and sub-national levels towards better management of international migration.

The process of developing the compact started in early 2017 as the implementation of a decision by the UN member states as the adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants in September 2016. Another decision pledged in the declaration is to develop a Global Compact on Refugees. 


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