On Monday, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) adopted the Global Compact on Refugees without the votes of the United States and Hungary. The text on the management of refugees received 181 votes in favor, two against and three abstentions.
Just likethe Global Compact on Migration, this one is not binding. Both texts emerged from the Declaration of New York, adopted unanimously in 2016 by the 193 members of the UN, which sought to improve the capacity to receive refugees and migrants as well as facilitate, if necessary, their return to their countries.
Drafted by the Geneva-based High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and led by Italian Filippo Grandi, the Global Compact for Refugees seeks to provide guidelines for managing mass movements of refugees as well as protracted refugee situations.
No country should be left alone to deal with a massive influx of refugees,”
said Filippo Grandi, welcoming a historic decision for the UN.
Refugee crises require a global sharing of responsibilities and the Pact is a powerful expression of the way we work together in today’s fragmented world,”
added Grandi.
According to the president of the UN General Assembly, Ecuadorian María Fernanda Espinosa, the pact will allow to reinforce the assistance and protection of 25 million refugees in the world.
The document marks four essential objectives:
-relieve pressure on host countries,
-increase the autonomy of refugees,
-expand access to third countries
-and help the country of origin to create the conditions that allow the safe and dignified return of refugees.
The United States voted against the document even though it participated in the negotiations for its drafting, which lasted eight months. The country had recently stated that it rejected the part of the pact that sought to limit the arrest of asylum seekers.
Hungary also gave a negative vote, since it believes a new agreement was not necessary, while the Dominican Republic, Eritrea and Libya abstained.
Before the vote on Monday, two countries facing a mass exodus of population went to the Assembly. Syria said the debate should not be politicized and called on UNHCR to do more to help Syrian refugees return to their war-torn country.
Venezuela, whose population flees in mass while the economic crisis deepens, urged the assembly to ensure that the new pact does not become a way for other countries to intervene in internal affairs.
The initiative is intended to establish a framework that encourages national and regional solutions, as well as to resolve funding, possible partnerships, and the exchange of information among nations. It also includes systems for monitoring progress, including a World Refugee Forum that will be held at the ministerial level every four years.
The Global Migration Pact, adopted in July without the vote of the United States and from which several countries later withdrew, will be subject to ratification by the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
Some of the countries who have withdrawn or expressed serious doubts about the pact are Hungary, Australia, Israel, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Latvia and Italy. In Belgium, the migratory pact caused the collapse of the country’s coalition government.
About 165 countries reaffirmed their commitment to the migratory pact earlier this month in Morocco.