On December 10, 2018, the migration pact was formally adopted by a majority of UN member states. With this pact, the UN wants to improve migration at a global level. The pact sets objectives for all member states in the capacity of home country, transit country or arrival country. The UN will facilitate the implementation of the pact, but each member state retains its sovereignty to shape a migration policy at national level.
What is the UN Migration Pact?
The official title of this pact is the Global Pact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The pact is simply called the UN migration pact or also the Marrakesh pact. The pact was approved by a majority of UN member states on December 10, 2018 in Marrakesh. The actual signing of the migration pact took place on December 19, 2018.
The pact is a compromise text and the result of two years of preparation, study, analysis and questioning of various parties involved at all possible levels.
Why did the UN want to create a migration pact?
Everyone remembers the images from 2015 and 2016 of refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean in rickety boats in the hope of fleeing war, oppression or poverty in their own home country. This ultimately led to chaos and crisis situations both in the transit countries (for example Italy) and in the arrival countries (for example Belgium).
The UN wants to avoid such chaotic situations in the future. The only way to achieve this is by making better agreements at a global level so that future migration can be safer, more orderly and more regular/legal.
What does this pact mean for the UN member states?
The aim of this pact is not to promote migration between the various UN member states, but to improve migration and make better agreements about this at a global level.
This pact is actually a declaration of commitment. The Member States are committed to solving migration problems together through international cooperation based on a common vision. The pact contains a declaration of intent, some basic principles and objectives that they want to jointly pursue. The objectives concern the Member States as home country, transit country and arrival country.
What is the legal value of the Migration Pact for the Member States?
The pact is not legally binding. The legal basis that member states must respect when implementing the pact and developing a migration policy in their own member state are the existing treaties and global regulations. One of the most important for Belgium and the Netherlands is of course the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).
What objectives are listed in the migration pact?
There are a total of 23 objectives in the Marrakesh pact. Each of these objectives is explained in the pact.
The objectives listed in the Migration Pact can be summarized as follows:
- collecting and using accurate data as a basis for an evidence-based migration policy is important for all Member States, whether they have the status of home country, transfer country or arrival country,
- all Member States should work to minimize adverse conditions and structural factors that force people to leave their home countries,
- migrants must always have access to accurate and timely information at every stage/step of their migration process and must also have the appropriate documents to prove their identity,
- countries must work together to set up international actions to locate missing migrants and save human lives,
- human smuggling must be discouraged and tackled as much as possible, both preventively and curatively,
- detaining migrants should only be used as a last resort. Transit countries and arrival countries must ensure an alternative approach for the future,
- the protection and assistance of the migrant during the entire migration process and access to basic services must be ensured,
- arrival countries should promote the inclusion of migrants in society: eliminating discrimination, making migrants resilient (empowerment), investing in the development of new competences and recognition of competences and qualifications already acquired in the home country can contribute to this,
- arrival countries must offer guarantees that application procedures are fair and ethical so that migrants have a chance of a decent job,
- migrants must be able to send money to (family in) the home country in a faster, safer and cheaper way,
- home countries should provide their cooperation and cooperation in facilitating the safe return to their home country of migrants, as well as their sustainable reintegration into society there.
Who does what in order to achieve the objectives formulated in the pact?
The UN wants to act as a kind of collection point for all available information about migration and possible actions to ensure that it runs smoothly. The UN wants to facilitate the exchange of good (and less good) experiences and information between the member states. Finally, the UN also wants to ensure that attention to this subject and this pact does not slacken. They do the latter, for example, by announcing an initial evaluation and conference on this pact in 2022.
The pact is a declaration of intent and commitment. Which means that every Member State that approves this pact will do its best to shape its own migration policy in such a way that this policy contributes as best as possible to the implementation of the UN migration pact. How the implementation will proceed was not yet clear at the time of the pact’s formal approval and signing.
Do all member states agree with the content of this migration pact?
In the run-up to the formal approval of the pact, there were heated discussions in several Member States about its contents. For example, a real government crisis has broken out in Belgium over the question of whether Belgium would approve the pact or not. And there was also a lot of controversy in the Netherlands during the preliminary discussion of the text within the government.
Ultimately, on December 10, 2018, 164 of the 193 member states formally approved the migration pact in Marrakesh. A number of Member States have outright refused to sign the pact (for example Israel and Australia). Other Member States have added an explanatory text as a condition for signature (for example Denmark and the Netherlands). In many cases, the explanatory text once again emphasizes that this pact may in no way limit the sovereignty of the Member State when it comes to drawing up national migration policy.