Trump pulls US out of UN migrant and refugee compact 0

US President Donald Trump has pulled the country out of a UN compact aimed at improving migrant and refugee situations around the world.

The US mission to the global body announced the decision on Saturday, saying the Trump administration deemed the pact “inconsistent” with its policies.

“Today, the US Mission to the United Nations informed the UN Secretary-General that the United States is ending its participation in the Global Compact on Migration,” it said in a statement.

Known as the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, the compact is a non-binding political declaration that was unanimously adopted by the 193 members of the UN General Assembly in September 2016.

Under the compact, the members pledged to uphold the rights of refugees, help them resettle and insure they have access to education and jobs.

“The New York Declaration contains numerous provisions that are inconsistent with US immigration and refugee policies and the Trump Administration’s immigration principles. As a result, President Trump determined that the United States would end its participation in the Compact process that aims to reach international consensus at the UN in 2018,” read the statement.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Washington would continue its support of migrants and refugees around the globe, but noted that “our decisions on immigration policies must always be made by Americans and Americans alone.”

She said the US itself “will decide how best to control our borders and who will be allowed to enter our country,” calling the declaration incompatible with “US sovereignty.”

So far the US, under Trump and his “America First” policies, has withdrawn from several other global commitments made under the administration of former President Barack Obama, including the Paris climate accord.

More recently, Trump has pulled America out of the Paris-based culture and education body, UNESCO, accusing it of “anti-Israel bias.”

 

Source: Presstv