UN General Assembly president regrets US withdrawal from global migration compact

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 4 (APP):UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak has expressed regrets over a US decision to withdraw from the global
migration compact, a UN-led process toward safe, orderly and regular migration.
The president of the 193-member Assembly issued a statement on Sunday after the Trump administration informed UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that it had decided to pull out of a United Nations conference on migration which opened in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Monday.
“In the (2016) New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, all UN member states acknowledged that no one state
can manage international migration on its own. Furthermore, they committed to strengthening global governance of migration. To
that end, member states agreed at the highest level to launch a process leading to the adoption of a global compact in 2018,”
Brenden Varma, a spokesman for Lajcak, said in a statement on Sunday.
“The role of the United States in this process is critical as it has historically and generously welcomed people from all across
the globe and remains home to the largest number of international migrants in the world. As such, it has the experience and expertise to help ensure that this process leads to a successful outcome.”
Lajcak stressed that migration was a global phenomenon that demands a global response and that multilateralism remained
the best way to address global challenges.
Despite the US withdrawal, the United Nations should not miss this opportunity to improve the lives of millions of people throughout the world, he said.