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FM: UN migration pact is designed to “legalise illegal migration”

Hungary has decided not to take part in the compact’s adoption process in order to make it clear that the document is not binding in any way whatsoever, says the foreign minister

The foreign minister has highlighted how the United Nations global compact for migration is designed to “legalise illegal migration”.

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the move is "utterly unacceptable" and harms the sovereignty of member states, including Hungary.

Minister Szijjártó said the Hungarian government considers the UN plan an “extremely biased pro-migration document, which is harmful and dangerous”.

The minister highlighted how the UN is about to make the same mistake as the European Union, “which has sought to base its migration policy on mandatory migrant quotas”.

“The UN package is even more dangerous because it is a global initiative,” he said. “Its impact will be greater than a continental policy and poses a risk to the entire globe.”

Minister Szijjártó said the main bone of contention is whether or not the package is compulsory, since the document contains the word “obligatory” eighty times, so the claim that the document only makes recommendations is false.

The minister states that countries should undertake to inform migrants about migration routes and run information campaigns for people who want to leave their homelands. It would also require countries to help migrants reunite with their families, he added.

The minister said the pack would ensure countries would have to offer the same services to migrants as they do to their own citizens.

“It is clearer than day that the global migration compact, just like the originally voluntary migrant quota, would become a point of reference and a binding basis for rulings in international law," he said.

Minister Szijjártó noted that Hungary has decided not to take part in the compact’s adoption process in order to make it clear that the document is not binding in any way whatsoever.