Trump Administration Abandons Global Compact for Migration Process
The U.S. has pulled out of talks over a global compact on migration. The Trump administration abandoned the process, saying it would interfere with U.S. sovereignty, according to the Guardian.
The migration compact is meant to deliver an international framework for managing migration in cooperation between countries of origin, transit and destination. The outline of the compact is being negotiated ahead of the 2018 U.N. General Assembly in New York.
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley defended the move, saying: “No country has done more than the United States, and our generosity will continue. But our decisions on immigration policies must always be made by Americans and Americans alone.”
Haley’s predecessor Samantha Power, who was ambassador to the U.N. under the Obama administration, attacked the withdrawal on Twitter: “How to further insult your Mexican neighbor, turn your back on humanity’s most desperate, and make America irrelevant on a hugely destabilizing global crisis in one easy step.”
Since taking office, the Trump administration has slashed numbers and funding on its refugee resettlement program and made repeated attempts to bar refugees from entering the U.S. under travel bans.
The announcement came ahead of international talks on migration in Mexico. The process is not expected to be binding on states, but the U.S. withdrawal will undermine efforts to get others to take it seriously.
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said that the U.S. opt-out was regrettable but that the compact process would continue: “The positive story of migration is clear: It needs to be better told. Equally, the challenges it throws up need to be tackled with more determination and greater international coordination.”
A.U. Leaders Meet in Addis Ababa to Address Libya Task Force
African leaders were due to meet in Ethiopia to discuss a task force for Libya. A U.N. official told Refugees Deeply that the emergency meeting would take place in Addis Ababa. It follows recent commitments by African states and the E.U. to rescue migrants following reports of slavery in Libya.
The meeting in Addis Ababa was expected to clarify what African states were doing to repatriate their own citizens from Libya. It was also meant to further explain proposals for a military or policing force to assist with these returns.
Since a CNN report with footage purported to show a slave market, there have been a flurry of high-level statements from European and African leaders but very little actual detail.
E.U. leaders have promised to evacuate Libyan migration detention centers with some African states, including Nigeria, saying they would fly their own citizens home. Estimates of the number of African migrants in Libya have stretched up to 700,000.
Apart from expanding the current returns program run by the U.N. migration agency, it is unclear what the evacuation plan amounts to or what safeguards will be in place to avoid forced returns.
U.N. officials say that security conditions on the ground will not support a large international program, and it is unclear where refugees, who qualify for protection, would be taken. Niger has been discussed as a solution, but there is no agreement from the country to host large numbers of refugees in any camp-like facility.
Australian Government Loses Vote on Refusal of New Zealand Refugee Offer
The Australian government has been defeated in parliament over a New Zealand offer to take in asylum seekers, according to the Guardian. The Turnbull government lost a vote on the offer to relocate refugees from Manus island to New Zealand.
A motion by the Australian Green Party to accept the New Zealand offer to resettle 150 refugees from Manus passed 73-72 in an unexpected defeat for Premier Malcolm Turnbull.
The vote was later rerun and won by the government after two MPs who missed the first session were found.
The closure of the Manus detention center has left Australia with hundreds of asylum seekers for which it has to find a solution. The men barricaded themselves into the defunct facility, complaining that they would be in danger in an open center elsewhere. Eventually they were forcibly moved by local authorities.
The U.S. is meant to resettle the asylum seekers, but has so far only found places for a small number.
Recommended Reads:
- The Guardian: This is Hell Out Here: How Behrouz Boochani’s Diaries Expose Australia’s Refugee Shame
- Al Jazeera: Syrian Refugees Trapped in a No Man’s Land
- The Week: Germany Offers Asylum Seekers Extra Cash to Go Home
- The Guardian: ‘They’re Usually Either Enemies or Victims’: The Refugee Crisis on Screen