British Prime Minister Theresa May addressed the UN Summit for refugees and migrants on September 19.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a package of $2.8 billion in humanitarian and self-reliance assistance. Deputy Director of Global Advocacy for Human Rights Watch Philippe Bolopion said, “Is the outcome document up to the challenge?”
All 193 United Nations member states reached consensus on the declaration to develop by 2018 a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration; ensure a more equitable sharing of responsibility for hosting and supporting the world’s refugees; to commit to protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants regardless of their status; and to commit to launching a global campaign to counter xenophobia.
The declaration was hailed by the United Nations as “powerful”, a “historic opportunity”, and “a political commitment of unprecedented force”.
“Faced with the worst refugee crisis in 70 years, world leaders have shown a shocking disregard for the human rights of people who have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict or persecution”, said Salil Shetty, secretary- general of Amnesty International.
But she said the current levels of “uncontrolled migration” were not in the interests of the migrants or the countries involved, and served to reduce popular support for refugees.
Soros plans to work with organisations such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Rescue Committee to establish appropriate investment principles for the initiative, according to the statement.
He wants New Zealand and other relatively wealthy countries to follow the likes of Lebanon, Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey, some of which are hosting millions of refugees with comparatively less money.
“The news reports often highlight the movement of refugees into Europe and North America, which obscures the fact that 86 percent of the world’s refugees live in developing countries”.
The New York Declaration calls on countries which can resettle or reunite many more refugees to do so.
The General Assembly gathers in yearly sessions to deliberate policy-making, discuss important issues of global concern such as peace and security, and handle budgetary matters for the United Nations, playing a key role in the financing of peacekeeping.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US believed that every country needed to do more. “On the other hand, states, just like us, need a more predictable way of responding to the refugee crisis that’s what this NY declaration proposes”, Fillipo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told The Associated Press.
But many human rights groups slammed the resolution for failing to mandate concrete action that obligates countries to do their fair share. “We’re facing an historic crisis and the response is not historic”, Bolopion said on the sidelines of the meeting. He urged “world leaders to join this campaign and commit together to upholding the rights and dignity of everyone forced by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life”. The Syrian civil war has put a spotlight on these issues, as hundreds of thousands of refugees crossed the Mediterranean a year ago.
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The declaration paves the way for negotiations on a pair of global compacts, one providing guidelines on the treatment of migrants in vulnerable situations and another on seeking more equitable burden sharing in support of the world’s refugees.
