Despite US Withdrawal, Global Migrant’s Compact Will Be Effective

Rasa - Despite overwhelming global support, the United States government has refused to endorse the Global Migrant’s Compact (GCM) in Morocco (December 10-14).

News ID: 442054

Date: 12 December 2018 - 13:09

RNA - However, more than 180 of the UN’s 193 member states, along with human rights organizations, international relief agencies and civil society organizations have participated in the conference. Unfortunately, the Trump administration and nine other right-wing governments have still been successful in mischaracterizing and misleading the world community regarding what the compact is, and what it seeks to achieve which is to promote cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination to ensure that migration is safe, regular and orderly.

As UN delegates met in Morocco to adopt the global compact to protect the rights and safety of refugees and migrants, the Trump administration launched a blistering attack condemning it as a violation of national sovereignty. The Trump administration, which pulled out of the negotiations last year, “maintains the sovereign right to facilitate or restrict access to our territory, in accordance with our national laws and policies, subject to our existing international obligations.”

Ultimately, however, that a handful of countries, including the US, refused to come to Marrakesh should not detract from the fact that over 180 nations did, meaning the compact has received overwhelming global support. What is unique about this is that countries that withdrew did so despite the fact that the compact is non-legally binding, and all of these countries (other than the US) participated – in good faith – in the 18-month process to negotiate its terms.

The compact will only be effective if countries move forward with its implementation. What is important is that the compact’s 23 objectives embody a comprehensive set of best practices for managing migration and refugee crisis in a safe, orderly manner which requires the cooperation of countries of origin, transit and destination. In other words, implicit in the compact is the understanding that not implementing these practices results in unsafe, irregular, and disorderly human movement, in loss of life, in human trafficking, in exploitation and abuse of migrants and refugees in situations of vulnerability including children.

It results in a failure to address the factors in countries of origin that are driving more and more people to migrate out of necessity and desperation, not choice. It also seeks to protect persons in situations of vulnerability who are not squarely included in the Refugee Convention, including those compelled to leave their countries due to disasters and the adverse effects of climate change and man-made humanitarian crisis.

All countries need to address these drivers, to promote practices that ensure that people are moving safely and regularly. At the same time, the compact recognizes the sovereign right of every nation to manage its borders. That the United States does not want to implement these best practices is contrary to its own self-interests and/or claims about protecting basic human rights.

According to Fars News Agancy, there are over 258 million migrants today most of whom migrate because of the US-led wars in the Middle East and climate change. What has changed is the fact that increasingly, more and more people are migrating not out of choice – not as “economic migrants” – but because of other drivers like generalized violence, corruption, and the impacts of wars (famine and starvation in the case of Yemen) in their home countries. These people are in need of some level of international protection.

One of the goals of the compact is to ensure that those migrating out of desperation are not exploited or abused, and that their human rights are upheld. Ultimately, the GCM’s success will be measured by how well states work together to ensure that labor, demographic, family, education and other needs are addressed in a mutually beneficial way that bolsters human rights.

For example, the Rome Statute, which brought the International Criminal Court into effect, was adopted without the support of the US, has 139 signatories now, and has had a profound impact on international jurisprudence since it entered into force in 2002, whether the US is party to it or not. There are 145 parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. No one would question that it has been highly influential and a lifeline to millions of people.

Make no mistake. The same will be true about the GCM. Indeed, with or without the US, the compact will be effective in its voluntary implementation, particularly in the context of the Refugee Convention (signed and ratified by all UN member states) which is also being violated by the US. Sadly, this terrible record is a constant throughout American history.

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