US President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from the UN Global Compact aimed at better managing the immigrant and refugee crisis, as he deems it "incompatible" with his immigration policy, the US announced. Saturday the US Delegation to the United Nations.
"The US mission to the UN has informed the Secretary-General that the United States is terminating its membership in the Global Compact on Immigration," the US delegation said in a statement.
In September 2016, the 193 Member States of the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a text entitled The New York Declaration on Refugees and Immigrants, which aimed to improve international governance (reception, assistance, repatriation…) flows of refugees and migrants.
Based on this Declaration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was commissioned to propose a Global Compact for Immigrants and Refugees in its annual report to the General Assembly in 2018. This Pact is expected to span two axes. : defining a response framework and drawing up an action plan.
"The New York Declaration contains many provisions that are incompatible with US immigration and refugee policies and the Trump administration's immigration principles," the US Mission to the United Nations said in a statement. "Consequently, President Trump has decided to end US involvement in the preparation of the Pact, which aims to form an international consensus at the UN in 2018," the statement added.
Asked about this, a UN spokesman said he was not in a position to comment directly on Washington's announcement.
"America is proud of its legacy in terms of immigration and the moral leadership it has shown in providing support to refugee and immigrant populations around the world," US Ambassador to the United Nations Nicki Haley said in a statement.
"No country has done more than the United States and our generosity will continue. But our immigration policy decisions must always be made by Americans alone. "We will decide what is the best way to control our borders and who will be allowed to enter our country," Hailey continued.
"The global approach to the New York Declaration is simply incompatible with American national sovereignty," Hailey concluded.
In the days of Republican Donald Trump in the presidency, the United States has already rescinded many of the commitments it made when Democratic President Barack Obama took office — the most important of which was to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Most recently, Trump decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The US government's announcement that it is withdrawing from the Global Compact on Immigrants and Refugees is being recorded as nine European and African countries, the UN, the European Union and the African Union, are making decisions to conduct "emergency evacuation operations" days or weeks "of migrants who have fallen or are at risk of falling victim to human trafficking in Libya.