Beware UN migration compact

The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw US backing from the UN plan to establish a global compact on migration sends a powerful message. In a statement that recalls John Howard’s 2001 insistence that “we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come”, Donald Trump’s UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, has declared: “We will decide how best to control our borders and who will be allowed to enter our country. The global approach in the New York declaration (setting up the GCM) is simply not compatible with US sovereignty.”

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned the proposed compact “contains a number of policy goals inconsistent with US law and policy”. He added: “We simply cannot in good faith support a process that could undermine the sovereign right of the US to enforce our immigration law and secure our borders.” There is a UN General Assembly mandate for the migration compact to achieve the protection of all refugees and migrants “regardless of status”. The world is awash with an estimated 65 million displaced people and 22.5 million “refugees”. The last thing that is needed is another busybody UN setup whose raison d’etre is cajoling countries such as the US and Australia to forgo their sovereignty and national interests and take more “refugees”, genuine or not.

Top UN officials have vested the advent of the migration compact — following last year’s unanimous vote in favour by all 193 members of the General Assembly — with as much importance as the Paris Agreement on climate change. Barack Obama was an enthusiastic supporter of the compact. Mr Trump’s very different view follows his unilateral withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement and UNESCO (because of its bias against Israel). Australia, too, ought to be cautious about the new migration body.

There clearly are potential benefits in achieving global co-ordination on migration, but that must not come at the cost of countries being required to cede their sovereignty. Mr Howard’s firm injunction on the integrity of national borders and migration control remains as vital for Australia now as it was 16 years ago.