Chile is the first South American country to reject the UN pact on migration



[ad_1]

SANTIAGO – Chile became the first country in South America on Sunday to announce that it would not participate in the official adoption conference of the UN Pact on Migration, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Marrakech. with the participation of more than 150 countries. According to the Chilean Ministry of the Interior, the Government considers that certain provisions of the document "are not applicable to the Chilean migration policy".

Brazil will participate in the meeting, in a delegation led by Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira Filho. According to a note from Itamaraty, the pact "will be of great importance for the guarantee of worthy treatment of more than 3 million Brazilians residing abroad".

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, adopted in July by the United Nations General Assembly, imposes no legal obligation on states. Yet it was abandoned by several countries with right-wing and nationalist governments on the grounds that it was endangering national sovereignty. In addition to Chile, the United States, Australia, Israel, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Belgium, Latvia and the Dominican Republic have renounced the pact or have expressed reservations about it.

Yesterday the pact caused the collapse of the Belgian government coalition and the departure of the Flemish nationalists. The Italian government, which is part of the far right party, also withdrew at the last minute and said that the signing of the agreement will depend on a vote in Parliament.

The document aims to coordinate national policies on migration, with proposals to combat human trafficking and to ensure respect for the dignity of immigrants, the number of people traveling in the world rising to 250 million, or just over 3% of the world's population. After the conference in Morocco, the document will be returned to the General Assembly for a vote on 19 December.

Chile's undersecretary of the interior, Rodrigo Ubilla, said on Sunday that the text functioned as "a kind of straitjacket about what each country should do sovereignly" in its migration policy. He complained that the pact does not distinguish between regular immigration and irregular immigration, which would facilitate the exchange of immigrant status and would go to the country. This is in contrast to the more restrictive immigration policy recently adopted by the country, which has welcomed 155,000 Haitians in recent years. and 200,000 Venezuelans.

– Our position is clear. We say that migration is not a human right. The right of countries to define the confession of admission of foreign citizens. If it were a human right, we would be in a world without borders – he said.

The pact does not say that migration is a human right, but that the rights of immigrants must be respected.

According to Ubilla, the government of President Sebastián Piñera will continue the review of the document to the UN, in order to "clarify the differences" as far as it is concerned.

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian yesterday lamented the "foolishness" and "manipulation" of the United Nations pact on migration.

– I have not heard so many idiots for a long time … The text contains a fantastic elucidation, "said Le Drian – For somewhat perverse reasons due to electoral majorities in such or such a country, the migration pact is used and manipulated.

According to him, "this is not a restrictive text" for sovereignty:

– It states that states have the responsibility to secure their borders, that migration policy is a prerogative of national sovereignty, that countries of origin, transit and destination commit themselves to control migratory flows, dismantle and fight against trafficking and respect human rights – he said.

[ad_2]
Source link