UN finalizes first ever global compact for migration

Source: Xinhua| 2018-07-14 02:51:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN member states on Friday finalized the text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, marking the first time they came together to negotiate an agreement covering all dimensions of international migration.

At a press briefing, a UN spokesperson quoted Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed as saying that "this compact demonstrates the potential of multilateralism: our ability to come together on issues that demand global collaboration -- however complicated and contentious they may be."

The spokesperson also said Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration Louise Arbour stressed "human mobility will be with us, as it has always been."

"Its chaotic, dangerous exploitative aspects cannot be allowed to become a new normal. The implementation of the compact will bring safety, order and economic progress to everyone's benefit," Arbour said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said migrants are a remarkable engine for growth as they, totaling 250 million, make up 3 percent of global population and contribute 10 percent of global gross domestic production.

He said Thursday at a press conference that he views migration as a "positive global phenomenon," adding it is also inevitable and should be organized.

For the past few days, UN member states had been in the sixth and final round of negotiations on the compact. The finalized text is slated to be adopted at an intergovernmental conference in Morocco on Dec. 10 and 11.

The compact is the first intergovernmental agreement to cover wide-ranging dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner, including factors that compel people to move, legal channels for migration, combating trafficking and smuggling, harnessing the economic benefits of migration and return of the migrants.

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