Czech Republic says no to UN migration pact

Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-15 02:14:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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PRAGUE, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Czech government will not join the UN global migration pact, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday.

He said the pact does not include some Czech priorities such as a clear distinction between legal and illegal migrants as well as the denotation of illegal migration as undesirable.

The UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was criticized by the Czech foreign ministry for obscuring the differences between legal and illegal migrants, encouraging greater migration, including illegal migration.

The Czech Foreign Ministry said the final document lacked a clear position that illegal migration is undesirable, on which the Czech Republic insisted in the negotiations.

The EU proposed that the final document should speak about forced return of illegal migrants as a legitimate part of migration policy, but it was not eventually accepted.

The UN approved the text of the unbinding agreement in 2016 and it should be finally adopted at a conference in Marrakesh next month.

In September, the Czech Chamber of Deputies asked the government to tell it by mid-November what would be the Czech stance in Morocco.

Last year, the United States announced its withdrawal from the pact. Austria and Hungary refused to sign it. Poland, Italy, and Switzerland also have reservations about the pact.

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