The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, informed the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, at the weekend that Donald Trump was not willing to continue with an American commitment to the UN global compact on migration. The initiative had the enthusiastic backing of Barack Obama, and was embraced by Guterres as one of his major challenges for 2018. The aim is to publish a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration next year in time for adoption by the UN general assembly in September. The US mission to the UN said in a statement on Saturday that the declaration “contains numerous provisions that are inconsistent with US immigration and refugee policies and the Trump administration’s immigration principles”. The impact of the migration pullout is more symbolic than practical, since the UN never had any illusion that it could control a member state’s policies.

Source: The Guardian December 03, 2017 15:04 UTC