S&Ds welcome approval of the UN refugee compact and urge support for the migration pact
Date
18 Dec 2018
Sections
Justice & Home Affairs
S&D MEPs welcomed the approval by the UN General Assembly of the Global Compact on Refugees last night. The legally non-binding text sets out a series of principles and recommendations to improve cooperation and management of refugees around the world. The compact was approved by an overwhelming majority of states, 181, with only the USA and Hungary voting against.
The UN General Assembly will also vote this week on the separate UN Global Pact on Migration, which sets standards for better managing legal migration around the world. National leaders formally adopted this in Marrakech last week.
Speaking on the refugee compact, S&D Group vice-president Elena Valenciano said:
“This is a landmark decision and a huge step in the right direction. The world's nations have almost unanimously come together in the aim of strengthening the international response to protect refugees and better share responsibility between states. “The only ones to lose are those countries that have shamelessly decided to vote against: Trump's USA and Orbán’s Hungary.“Human mobility is on the rise and knows no borders. Migration and refugee flows are a global issue and they require a global commitment to manage in an efficient and humane way. We urge all states involved to implement the commitments adopted swiftly and in full. Millions of refugees, and the communities hosting them, expect and deserve a better future. This Compact can and must deliver it.”
Speaking on the migration compact, which will to be voted tomorrow, S&D Group vice-president Tanja Fajon said:
“Yesterday, almost the entire world came together to show their commitment to supporting those in need of international protection. They recognised that challenges that cross borders need an international response. Just as this is true for managing refugees, it is true for managing migration in general. We therefore urge all member states to approve the global pact for a Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in the UN General Assembly tomorrow.
"This separate agreement has been subject to a huge misinformation campaign by the far right. Migrants are often in particularly vulnerable positions and open to exploitation. The compact sets out a series of sensible proposals on how we can better manage legal movement of people around the world, from addressing the root causes of migration, to cracking down on people trafficking and migrant smuggling. It is legally non-binding, does not impinge on national sovereignty and does not conflate the issue of migration with asylum, as the extreme right has repeatedly claimed.
“It is shameful that six EU countries followed Donald Trump’s lead and refused to support the pact in Marrakesh last week. We urge the rest of the global community to stand united against the far right and support a multilateral response to a global issue by adopting the migration pact tomorrow.”