All UN member states, except for the United States, have begun consultations on the development of a comprehensive pact on migration and refugees. In this document, it is intended to prescribe “safe, orderly and rule-based” migration standards. Negotiations are planned to be completed before the end of 2018.
“We do not have the choice to accept or reject migration flows, they are everywhere in the world, it is about finding a global solution for the world phenomenon,” said UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak at the opening of the debate in New York .
The US refused to participate in the negotiations. They announced in January that the UN plans are incompatible with their own migration policy. Hungary also considered the possibility of refusing to participate in consultations, but, in the end, changed its mind.
Consultations on the World Migration Pact (WMP) are carried out on the basis of the UN General Assembly resolution adopted in September 2016. Then 193 UN member states unanimously voted in support of the declaration of intent, which provides for greater protection of refugees and migrants, as well as increased support for those states that receive the majority of refugees.
As part of the development of the WMP, six rounds of negotiations are planned, one per month until July. Diplomats hope that the agreed document will be signed at the summit in Morocco in December 2018.