Geneva/Berlin – Opposition is growing to the UN ‘Global Compact’ which is intended to accommodate 250 million immigrants of the world. Ten leading countries of the world including the United States have opposed the Compact claiming it to be an invasion of the rights of the member countries. At the same time, Chancellor Merkel, who had enforced the ‘Open-Door’ policy for refugees, has strongly supported the Compact leading to clashes with the opposition members over the issue in the German Parliament, Bundestag.

There has been a consistent rise in the number of immigrants over the last few years, owing to the intense and violent conflicts in the rest of the Middle East including Syria, South Asia and Africa. The United Nations had held a special conference in 2016 to discuss the issue as it was the first time since the Second World War that the immigrant numbers were consistently on the rise on such an enormous scale. During the meeting, all the member nations were urged to take up the initiative to accept the responsibility of the immigrants. The United Nations took the lead to prepare a draft after the discussion with the member states.

The pact, known as the UN ‘Global Compact for Migration’ is scheduled to be signed next month in Morocco. However, growing number the member countries have opposed some of the objectives out of the 23 stated in the pact, and the opposition is assuming an extensive scale. The deal envisages safeguarding the human rights of the immigrants at various stages and the onus of ensuring these, rests entirely on the member countries.

The United States and a few European countries are opposed to several provisions of the agreement including the one mentioned earlier. Also, there is a growing demand from the countries that insists, the rights of taking any decision regarding immigrants should rest entirely in the hands of the government of the host country. US President Donald Trump had backed out from the pact refusing to come to the negotiations table. Severe responses have emerged from Europe, which is already under threat from the immigrant influx. Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria from Europe have opposed the migration pact.

The extent of the opposition has dramatically increased over the last few days, and Israel, Poland, Australia and Switzerland have decided not to attend the Morocco conference. More nations are expected to back out before the conference, and major political conflict over the issue has begun even in Germany.

Alice Weidel, the leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD), fired a salvo of criticism at the German government during the discussions over this issue, at the German Parliament. ‘Despite the Merkel government spending large amounts of government funds, young girls and women cannot move freely on the streets of Germany as of today due to the threat of attacks from immigrants’, Weidel accused. In reply to the allegation, Chancellor Merkel justified the pro-immigrant policy of her government saying that the issue needed to be addressed by everyone together at the international level.

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