(Image source from: Manita Bulletin)
Despite a protest from the United States, United Nation member states have backed a global pact on migration, pledging to boost cooperation in addressing the world's thriving flows of migrants.
Yesterday, an applause broke out at a UN conference room when the concluding text was sanctioned following 18 months of talk terms on what is billed as the introductory international document on managing migration.
However, The floaty environment shifted when Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Foreign Minister took the floor to say his country is probably to pull out of the non-binding statement.
The foreign minister uttered concern that the understanding could lead to stronger measures that would force governments to open their borders to migrants-a move Hungary sees as a menace to stability.
"We don't think that anyone has a right to pick a country where he or she would like to arrive at a country of destination and in order to do so to violate a series of borders," said Szijjarto.
He added saying: On Wednesday, the Hungarian authorities will decide whether to draw back from the global compact for migration.
Hungary would follow Washington if it quits the deal which proclaimed in December that it was withdrawing from negotiations on the pact because of provisions "inconsistent with U.S. immigration and refugee policies."
On a visit to Britain, President Donald Trump criticized European immigration policies, saying allowing "millions and millions of people to come to Europe is very, very sad."
"I think you're losing your culture," he said in an interview to a British tabloid.
The 23 objectives were laid out by global pact in order to open up legal migration and better manage the influx as the number of people on the move worldwide has increased to 250 million.
The negotiations faced hurdles over how to address illegal migration with some governments insisting that migrants who go wrong to be decently registered be returned to their countries of origin.
The document has been delineated as "the beginning of a conversation" to face up to what she termed as the new "human mobility" in the world by Louise Arbour, UN special envoy for international migration.
"We are going to have to revisit some of these issues, possibly with more robust mechanisms," Arbour said, but the document is a "launching pad to do much, much better.
"UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has argued that governments should recognize that "migration is a positive global phenomenon" and that migrants are needed to keep labor markets afloat.
He cited his individual experience of hiring migrant workers to care for his elderly mother in Portugal, at a news conference on Thursday,
"I've never seen a Portuguese taking care of my mother," said Guterres.
The document will be formally adopted during a conference in Morocco on December 10-11.
By Sowmya Sangam
