A PAM high-level parliamentary delegation, led by President Hon. Pedro Roque, participated and contributed to the United Nations Intergovernmental Conference to adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which took place on 10-11 December 2018 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
The Delegation was composed of Hon. Renato Sampaio, Head of the Portuguese Delegation to PAM, Hon. Maria Ronsinha, Portugal, and Hon. Badreddine Abdelkafi, Vice-President of the Tunisian Parliament and PAM Rapporteur on issues related to Migration and Human Rights, and it was assisted by the PAM Secretariat.
The Conference, attended by more than 5500 delegates, was opened by the President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, and the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and saw the contribution of many Heads of State and Government.
For his part, the UN Secretary General underlined the importance of the Compact, as a roadmap to prevent suffering and chaos, and to provide cooperation strategies that will benefit all. He pointed out that the Compact reaffirms the principle of State sovereignty, including the sovereign right of States to determine their national migration policy and their prerogative to govern migration within their jurisdiction, in conformity with international law.
Despite a string of withdrawals driven by national anti-immigrant policies, the leaders and representatives from more than 150 countries adopted the Global Compact on Migration without a vote.
In his statement, PAM President reaffirmed the Assembly’s engagement in the implementation of the Global Compact, and recalled the resolution entitled “The Mediterranean dimension of a Global Compact on Migration”, adopted unanimously by PAM at its 12th Plenary Session. In this resolution, all PAM members recognize the importance of the ratification and implementation of the relevant international conventions on the governance of migration, and the critical need to promote human rights-based migration governance legislation, fully rooted in international human rights law, refugee law, labour law and humanitarian law.
Hon. Roque called on all delegates to translate provisions of the Global Compact into national laws, policies and practical implementation measures. He highlighted the key role that national and international parliaments shall and must play in this process by monitoring and supervising the implementation of the commitments made by their Governments for the Global Compact.
He also underlined the importance of ensuring harmonization of national legislations in the implementation of the Compact. To this end, he referred to the Conference that PAM will hold next June, in Turkey, dedicated inter-alia to the application of the principles and provisions of the Global Compact on Migration in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
He concluded by reiterating PAM’s strong belief in cooperation among countries as essential to reduce irregular arrivals, bring criminal smugglers to justice and save the lives of their victims, underlining the decision to also involve in the debates those national parliaments, members of PAM, whose countries had suspended, and hopefully only temporarily, their participation in the Compact.
The Global Compact for Migration is the first, inter-governmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, to cover all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner. This conference is the result of a long process that began in 2016 with the adoption by the United Nations of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.
PAM followed closely and participated actively in the preparatory consultations for the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration by co-organizing a series of dedicated meetings and sharing regularly among its members the recommendations resulted at the UN fora on the subject.