Philippines-backed migration deal makes U-turn as countries pull out

MANILA, Philippines — The first migration deal, strongly supported by the Philippines given the needs of the estimated 10 million Filipinos residing or working in almost all countries of the world, has made a “U-turn” before it is formally adopted after several member-states of the United Nations announced their withdrawal of support for the accord.

UN Special Representative for International Migration Louise Arbour said the stated intention of several countries – including Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria – to pull out of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) “reflects poorly” on them, and has seriously affected the spirit of multilateralism.

The GCM was approved in July by all 193 UN member-states except the United States, which backed out last year, and is due to be formally adopted at an intergovernmental conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh on Dec. 10-11. Arbour will serve as the conference’s secretary-general.

The document, though non-binding, will set in place a voluntary international framework that will manage migration in an acceptable and implementable manner by all member-states.

The Philippines actively participated in the negotiations for a GCM, given the needs of Filipino migrants.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippines was committed to leading negotiations on the UN agreement that seeks to provide better treatment of and protection for migrant workers.

Arbour pointed out that the text was agreed upon following extensive negotiations involving all member-states apart from the US that lasted for months, in which each country advanced their own interests and extracted concessions from others, and added that it was disappointing to see countries reverse their decision to sign up to the compact so soon after the text had been agreed upon by all participating parties.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister  Peter Pellegrini became the latest national leader to announce their withdrawal of support for the compact.

Arbour, however, said the vast majority of member-states are still signed up to the initiative: a cooperative non-binding document which is designed to set clear objectives to make migration safe, orderly and regular. It sets out to address the concerns of signatory governments while reinforcing national sovereignty and recognizes the vulnerabilities faced by migrants.

Arbour, a former high commissioner for human rights and senior Canadian judge, said she expects to hear member-states during the conference in Morocco next month express their intentions to implement the parts that are particularly significant to them, share their commitments and innovative ideas and forge more partnerships.

Once implemented, she said it would allow migrants and member-states to prosper.

“There is no question that we would see an increase in harvesting the benefits of migration and, very importantly, reducing some of its negative aspects such as irregular migration, with people moving in chaotic, dangerous ways,” Arbour said.

“We would see a great improvement on the development aspects, the humanitarian aspect and all the economic benefits that migration is capable of producing, if it’s well managed, in a cooperative way,” she added.

The compact, the first intergovernmentally negotiated agreement, was prepared under the auspices of the UN, to cover all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.

While it is not aimed at providing immediate answers to current short-term migration crises, Arbour said the compact would help enlighten different approaches to address them.

Former UN General Assembly president and current Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak said the compact “will formally become the first comprehensive framework on migration the world has ever seen.”