Australia Refuses to Sign UN Migration Pact; Angela Merkel Attacks ‘Nationalist’ Non-Signatories
In her speech during a session at the Lower House of the Bundestag, German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended a United Nations agreement on migration. She boldly accused the U.N pact’s challengers as purveyors of “nationalism in its purest form.”
“There are people who say they can solve everything themselves and don’t have to think about anyone else, that is nationalism in its purest form,” she told the parliament in an unusually passionate address.
Merkel stressed that the U.N agreement is valuable to Germany and does not in any way infringe on national sovereignty.
“This pact for migration, like the refugee pact, is the right attempt to find solutions for global problems internationally, together,” Merkel said
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration aims to discourage illegal migration, help integrate migrants and send them back to their countries. It appeals to supporters not to resort to detention of asylum seekers.
In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison strongly opposed the U.N Migration Pact because he believes that it would jeopardize national security.
“The global compact on migration would compromise Australia’s interest,” Morrison told 2GB Radio. “It doesn’t distinguish between those who illegally enter Australia and those who come the right way.”
Canberra’s rigid immigration policy bars migrants arriving in boats from settling in Australia. They are accosted in two detention centers on the remote South Pacific islands where they await to get accepted by another nation or agree to be sent home. The camps have been criticized by the U.N and human rights groups.
“Australia is a textbook case of how not to treat boat arrivals, by sending them offshore to endure abysmal conditions for years and trying to shirk its international responsibilities onto less-developed countries,” said Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch’s Australia director.
PM Morrison recently announced that his government will decrease Australia’s annual immigration cap of 190,000 places. New immigrants will be restricted from settling in Australia’s key cities – Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane — for up to five years.
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