FILE PHOTO: Ernesto Araujo, who was appointed by Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro as Foreign Minister, arrives for a meeting at the transition government building in Brasilia, Brazil November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil has pulled out of a United Nations pact on dealing with rising migration, joining the United States and a growing number of countries in rejecting the agreement, a Brazilian diplomat with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo said last month before he was sworn in that it was his intention to exit the agreement.

A diplomat, speaking on condition they not be named as they were not authorized to speak with the press, confirmed to Reuters that Brazil had officially left the pact.

The Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

Araújo said last month that the international accord was “an inappropriate instrument” to deal with the issue and nations should set their own policies.

With a record 21.3 million refugees globally, the United Nations began work on the non-binding agreement after more than 1 million people arrived in Europe in 2015, many fleeing civil war in Syria and poverty in Africa.

The accord, which addresses issues such as how to protect migrants, integrate them and send them home, has been criticized by mostly right-wing European politicians who say it could increase immigration.

All 193 U.N. members except the United States agreed to its wording in July, but only 164 - including Brazil - formally ratified it.

Araújo has said that Brazil would continue to take in refugees from neighboring Venezuela, but that the fundamental point is restoring democracy in that nation.</s>In his second week in office, far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has pulled the country out of a U.N. migration pact, fulfilling a pledge he made before taking office.

Brazilian diplomats told local media on Tuesday that the country officially left the agreement. A diplomat also told Reuters that Brazil has exited the pact.

Bolsonaro appeared to confirm the withdrawal on Wednesday, tweeting, "No to the compact on migration."

"Defense of national sovereignty was one of our campaign's banners and it will be a priority of our government," he wrote. "The Brazilians and immigrants who live here will be safer under rules that we ourselves make, without external pressure."

Brazil's departure from the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration marks the latest rejection of the non-binding agreement, which has drawn protest across the world, especially from far-right politicians in Europe. Nearly 30 countries, including the United States, refused to sign the pact in December.

Brazil was among the majority of countries that signed onto the compact, under the country's previous administration.

Bolsonaro's decision to leave the agreement follows guarantees the president-elect and his foreign minister made last month, after a polarizing election and runoff.

"The Bolsonaro government will withdraw from the Global Compact on Migration being launched in Marrakech, an inadequate instrument for dealing with the problem," tweeted Ernesto Araújo, now the country's foreign minister, in December. "Immigration must not be dealt with as a global issue, but rather in accord with each country's reality and sovereignty."

More than 700,000 registered immigrants live in Brazil, according to the Migration Policy Institute, along with several hundred thousand more undocumented immigrants. By far the largest segment comes from Portugal, followed by Japan, Italy, Paraguay and Bolivia.

Meanwhile, Brazil has become one of the primary destinations for an increasing number of Venezuelans fleeing a political and economic crisis at home. At least 65,000 Venezuelans have sought asylum in Brazil over the last four years, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Geoff Ramsey, assistant director for Venezuela at the Washington Office on Latin America, told NPR last fall that about a dozen tent camps were operating on the Brazilian-Venezuelan border.

Last month, Araújo tweeted that Brazil would "continue to welcome" Venezuelan asylum-seekers even when it withdrew from the compact, though it would also focus on the "restoration of democracy in Venezuela."

The U.N. accord has become a focal point for anti-immigrant sentiment, particularly in Europe. Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Rally, called the agreement "a pact with the devil." And in Brussels last month, thousands of protesters took to the streets carrying anti-immigration banners as they rallied against the pact.

The Trump administration refused to participate in the agreement more than a year ago, while other countries agreed to the pact last summer but pulled out before it was formally adopted, including Austria, Hungary, Italy, Chile and Australia.

Bolsonaro's government, now just over a week old, has drawn comparisons to the current U.S. administration, including in its rhetoric on refugees. On Wednesday, the Brazilian president echoed President Trump's language comparing national security to home security.

"If we decide who we let into our own houses, why would we do any differently when it comes to our Brazil?" he tweeted.

In a televised address on Tuesday night, Trump argued for his proposed border wall by pointing out that "wealthy politicians build walls, fences, and gates around their homes."

Bolsonaro has taken his victory as a "mandate" to change the country's foreign policy, according to an op-ed by his foreign minister published in Bloomberg on Monday.

"We are convinced that Brazil has a much larger role to play in the world than the one we currently attribute to ourselves," Araújo wrote.</s>Brazil has pulled out of a United Nations pact on dealing with rising migration, joining the United States and a growing number of countries in rejecting the agreement, a Brazilian diplomat with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

BRASILIA: Brazil has pulled out of a United Nations pact on dealing with rising migration, joining the United States and a growing number of countries in rejecting the agreement, a Brazilian diplomat with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo said last month before he was sworn in that it was his intention to exit the agreement.

A diplomat, speaking on condition they not be named as they were not authorized to speak with the press, confirmed to Reuters that Brazil had officially left the pact.

Araújo said last month that the international accord was "an inappropriate instrument" to deal with the issue and nations should set their own policies.

With a record 21.3 million refugees globally, the United Nations began work on the non-binding agreement after more than 1 million people arrived in Europe in 2015, many fleeing civil war in Syria and poverty in Africa.

The accord, which addresses issues such as how to protect migrants, integrate them and send them home, has been criticized by mostly right-wing European politicians who say it could increase immigration.

All 193 U.N. members except the United States agreed to its wording in July, but only 164 - including Brazil - formally ratified it.

Araújo has said that Brazil would continue to take in refugees from neighbouring Venezuela, but that the fundamental point is restoring democracy in that nation.</s>Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has announced his country’s withdrawal from the United Nations Global Compact for Migration just days after taking office.

The former military officer, dubbed “Trump of the Tropics,” followed the American president’s lead in rejecting the highly-controversial agreement and fulfilled his vow to reverse the course set by outgoing President Michel Temer’s administration, which joined over 160 others in signing on to the pact at a summit in Morocco last month.

Bolsonaro announced the pull-out in a series of tweets, confirming reports that the Brazilian Foreign Ministry had already ordered diplomats to inform the UN of the decision.

“Brazil is sovereign to decide whether or not to accept migrants,” Bolsonaro tweeted in Portuguese. “Anyone who comes here must be subject to our laws, rules and customs, as well as sing our anthem and respect our culture. It is not just anyone who enters our house, nor will anyone enter Brazil via a pact adopted by third parties. NO TO THE MIGRATION PACT.”

Bolsonaro issued additional statements on the matter, including a comprehensive declaration translated into English.

“We will never refuse help to those who need it, but immigration cannot become an indiscriminate act,” he said. “Criteria are needed, seeking the best solution according to the reality of each country. It is imperative for us to establish proper criteria for each country.”

“If we control those who enter our homes, why should it be any different with Brazil as a nation? Defending our national sovereignty has been a key part of our campaign and it is now a priority of our government. We shall establish rules without external influence, seeking to better the lives of those who reside legally in Brazil – citizen or immigrant alike.”

With the exception of the United States, all 193 United Nations member states originally agreed to the language of the migration compact in July.

However, only 164 countries ultimately signed on as concerns over its ramifications deterred a growing list of governments from countries such as Australia, Poland, Hungary, Israel, and Switzerland.</s>Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro reaffirmed his rejection of a global migration pact, saying decisions about who was able to come into his country need to be "sovereign."

 

 His comments, posted in a series of messages on his Twitter account, reinforced Bolsonaro's declaration before he took office last week that he was going to pull Brazil out of the migration compact that was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in December.

His government has already abandoned the accord, according to several reports and a diplomatic source speaking to AFP, but no public confirmation has yet been made.

 

 His stance aligns Bolsonaro with US President Donald Trump, with both leaders dismissing any multilateral approach to immigration for their countries. 

 

 "Brazil is sovereign in deciding whether or not to accept migrants... Not anybody can come into our home, not anybody can enter Brazil via a pact adopted by others. NO TO THE MIGRATION PACT," Bolsonaro tweeted.

He added that his country would continue giving help "to those who need it" but stressed that entry "criteria" were needed to ensure immigration was not "indiscriminate." 

 

 Brazil is one of the countries accepting a flow of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse in their country. The UN says more than 2.3 million people have left Venezuela since 2015, and the figure is expected to surpass 5.3 million this year.

 

 The Global Pact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was negotiated over two years under UN supervision and sealed on December 10 last year at an international conference in Morocco. It aims to treat international migration in a coordinated, comprehensive way, although it is not binding. 

 

 On December 19, the UN General Assembly adopted the pact, with 152 countries voting in favor, including Brazil's previous center-right government. The nations voting against were the United States, Israel, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland.

 

 Rights groups lamented Brazil joining those that rejected the accord.

 

 "The Bolsonaro government has adopted an outdated and mistaken discourse by considering migrants to be a threat to national sovereignty," said Camila Asano, with the non-governmental association Homme Conectas.</s>Brazil joined the agreement last December under President Michel Temer, but the new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1, promised before the inauguration that the country would leave the pact.

On December 10, 164 countries, including Brazil, adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The pact represents the international community's attempt to establish a common global approach to all aspects of international migration. It comprises 23 objectives for better managing migration at local, national, regional, and global levels.

READ MORE: Migration Pact: Did the UN Intentionally Hide Information?

Bolsonaro represents Social Liberal Party in Brazil, and won a run-off election for president in October. In December, Bolsonaro pledged that his administration would withdraw the country from the UN Global Compact for Migration and introduce tough immigration rules.</s>SAO PAULO — Brazil's new president blasted the United Nations' migration pact on Wednesday indicating that Latin America's largest nation will adopt a hard line on immigration.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who has promised to pull out of the U.N. deal, said on Twitter that he wants to ensure immigrants coming to Brazil not only abide by the laws, but also sing the national anthem and respect the country's culture.

"Immigration cannot become an indiscriminate act. It is imperative for us to establish proper criteria for each country," said Bolsonaro, a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump who took office Jan. 1. "If we control those who enter our homes, why should it be different with Brazil as a nation?"

The U.N pact signed by 164 countries in December recommends ruling out mass deportation policies and deems the deterrence of immigrants should be only a last resort.

Bolsonaro said he won't reject help for those crossing the border, an apparent reference to Venezuelans fleeing an economic and political crisis at home. In recent years, tens of thousands of Venezuelans have crossed into neighboring Brazil.

Brazil has also welcomed Syrian and Lebanese refugees in recent years, along with Haitians, Bolivians, Paraguayans and Peruvians seeking better economic opportunities.

Bolsonaro said Brazil and migrants both will be safer if the country adopts its own rules.

Brazil's outgoing government signed the U.N. pact weeks before Bolsonaro took office. As soon as the deal was signed in Morocco, the then president-elect said his administration would discard it.

Brazilian media reported several embassies received communication to inform them Bolsonaro's decision to leave the pact. Brazil's foreign ministry did not reply to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Maristela Basso, a law professor at Sao Paulo University, said that despite the heated rhetoric, the move wouldn't likely be adopted quickly. She said a formal withdrawal would need to be approved by Congress, where Bolsonaro's party controls about 10 percent of seats in the lower house and has 4 of 81 seats in the Senate. Congress doesn't convene until February.

"The president cannot leave the pact just with his pen," said Basso.

Former Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, who represented Brazil in the pact negotiations, recently said on Twitter that the pact does not "authorize indiscriminate migration" and "seeks to serve as reference for the organization of migration influxes."

Camila Asano, a coordinator at human rights nonprofit Conectas, said the move not only affects immigrants to the South American nation, but could also impact more than 3 million Brazilians.

"Nowadays there are more Brazilians living abroad than foreigners living in Brazil, Asano said. "This move undermines one of Brazil's main international credentials; we are a country of immigrants and our migration policies were seen as a reference."</s>Brazil's new far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday blasted the UN's global migration pact, a deal he has promised to pull out of, saying decisions about who was able to come into his country need to be "sovereign".

In a series of Tweets, Bolsonaro declared "defending national sovereignty" would be a priority of his government.

"No to the migration pact ... We shall establish rules without external influence, seeking to better the lives of those who reside legally in Brazil - citizen or immigrant alike," Bolsonaro said, referring to the UN's Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).

"We will never refuse to help those in need, but immigration cannot become an indiscriminate act... If we control those who enter our homes, why should it be different with Brazil as a nation?," he added.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain elected to Brazil's top office in October, had threatened to abandon the GCM prior to his inaugaration on January 1.

The non-binding accord was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in December after 18 months of negotiations among member states.

It comprises of 23 objectives for managing migration in a coordinated, comprehensive way at local, national, regional and global levels.

Brazil ratified the pact under Bolsonaro's predecessor, Michel Temer. Bolsonaro will require Congress approval to ditch the accord.

Brazilian news agency Agencia Brasil reported on Wednesday that the 63-year-old had communicated his decision to pull out of the deal to the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In response to questions about the reports, Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the president had "confirmed it himself on his Twitter account".

The UN's migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), declined to comment.

Brazil is one of several Latin American countries currently receiving migrants fleeing neighbouring Venezuela, which is plagued by an economic collapse causing severe food and medicine shortages.

More than 150,000 Venezuelans have entered Brazil since 2015 through its remote northern border state of Roraima, according to the IOM, over 65,000 of whom have requested asylum to date.

Thiago de Aragao, a director at the Brasilia-based political consultancy Arko Advice, told Al Jazeera a Brazilian withdrawal from the migration pact would allow Bolsonaro's government to "claim they do not need to respond as expected towards certain issues on the border with Venezuela".

"This will be a narrative that will be sustained for a while ... the intention of the government is to make it more difficult for Venezuelans to enter the country," de Aragao said.

Bolsonaro's comments on Wednesday also symbolised the beginning of a "Brazil first" foreign policy agenda under the new president, he added.

"This demonstrates a shift in Brazilian foreign policy because it has previously always been very directed towards multi-lateralism," de Aragao said.

Roberto Simon, senior director for policy at the New York-based Council of the Americas, added that Bolsonaro's move to withdraw from the GCM was "unlikely to be his only casualty at the UN".

"His [Bolsonaro's] decision is part of a much larger foreign policy overhaul, seeking to position Brazil alongside US President Donald Trump, Hungary, Poland, Italy and other countries engaged in the fight against so-called 'globalism'," Simon told Al Jazeera.

Trump pulled the United States out of the GCM in December.

Announcing Washington's decision to withdraw, former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the migration accord was "not compatible with US sovereignty".

There were almost 260 million international migrants in 2017, up nearly 50 percent from the corresponding figure in 2000, according to the UN.

Accounting for 3.4 percent of the world's people, the world's migrant population is now increasing faster than the general global population.</s>SAO PAULO -- Brazil's new president is resuming his attacks on the UN migration pact -- a deal he has promised to pull out of.

The far-right president said on Twitter on Wednesday that he wants immigrants to Brazil to sing the national anthem and respect the country's culture.

He said he won't reject help for those crossing the border, an apparent reference to Venezuelans fleeing an economic and political crisis at home. But he said Brazil and migrants both will be safer if the country adopts its own rules.

Brazil's outgoing government signed the UN pact less than a month after Bolsonaro took office on Jan. 1. Bolsonaro will need Congress' approval to leave the pact.</s>At an intergovernmental conference convened under the auspices of the United Nations in Marrakesh, Morocco, 164 nations adopted a pact on 10 December 2018 to manage the global migration crisis. The ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’ is the first, intergovernmental agreement that covers all dimensions of global migration. The legally non-binding pact aims to promote efforts to strengthen regular migration pathways and protect the human rights of migrants. Its objectives and commitments provide states and international agencies a means to coordinate migration policies and ensure that migration works for all. However, on the flip side, the non-participation of some important countries raises questions about the future of the pact.

The last few decades have experienced massive population shifts across the globe. The conflicts in West Asia, Africa and South America, and the extreme violence associated with them have forced people to leave their homes and seek a haven in foreign countries. In addition, climate change effects also contributed to the growing number of migrants and refugees. According to the United Nations, approximately 258 million migrants around the world are living outside their country of birth. Out of these, around 68 million are in the “forcibly displaced” category, more than at any time in the recorded history of the modern world. Since 2000, the number of global migrants has grown by 49 per cent, from 2.8 to 3.4 per cent of the global population. The UN data also shows that, since then, more than 60,000 migrants have lost their lives while on the move.

On the other side, resentment against migrants has intensified across the globe, particularly in Europe and the United States. Though the global migrant population constitutes merely 3.4 per cent of the world’s population, burgeoning protests against migrants have created a wider perception that migrants are threats to national economies. The rising tide of resentment in these countries has also produced the impression that most migrants are settled in the developed world whereas the reality is otherwise. Studies show that the developing world hosts more than half of the global migrant population and that migrants have contributed to the development of both sending and hosting countries.

Against this backdrop, recognizing the need for enhanced international cooperation and a comprehensive approach to the issue of migrants, all the 193 members of the UN adopted a resolution called New York Declaration in September 2016. The resolution demanded the protection of the ‘safety, dignity human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their migratory status.’ Combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination towards migrants, supporting the host countries, and developing non-binding principles and guidelines for treatment of migrants were the other proposals of the declaration. In addition, the New York declaration recommended two global compacts: a global compact on refugees and a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.

As proposed by the New York Declaration, elaboration of the Global Compact for Migration took place in three phases; consultation, stocktaking, and negotiation. The first phase involving six rounds of informal thematic sessions, which aimed to gather substantive inputs and recommendations for the Global Compact, was held between April and December 2017. The human rights of migrants, drivers of migration, irregular migration, international cooperation, smuggling and trafficking, and contribution of migrants were the main foci of these deliberations. In addition, five UN regional consultations (Africa, Asia and Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Western Asia), multi-stakeholder hearings, and regional civil society consultations also took place in 2017.

Subsequently, the stocktaking phase reviewed and analysed the information gathered during the consultations. The meeting provided “a platform for delegations and other stakeholders to jointly shape a vision for the Compact and collectively identify actionable commitments as well as respective means of implementation and partnerships the Compact may include.” The outcome was a ‘Zero Draft’ jointly prepared by Mexico and Switzerland, the co-facilitators of the process. Finally, the third phase, intergovernmental negotiations began with the release of the draft in February 2018 and ended with its finalization in July 2018. The final draft, which was agreed to by all 193 members of the UN, has four sections: vision and guiding principles, objectives and commitments, implementation, and follow up.

The Global Compact aims to ensure that migration ‘works for all’ by setting out a common understanding and shared responsibilities. It strives to foster international cooperation among “all relevant actors on migration, acknowledging that no State can address migration alone, and upholds the sovereignty of States and their obligations under international law.” Its central principles are people-centredness, national sovereignty, international cooperation, rule of law and sustainable development. The 23 objectives of the Compact seek to minimize the factors which force people to leave their country, ensure legal identity and documentation, provide regular pathways, eradicate trafficking, and facilitate return and readmission of all migrants. Moreover, to achieve these objectives, it spelt out 187 actions and many commitments.

One of the positive aspects of the Global Compact is the framing of migration in the logic of development. The significant case against migration has been the perceived negative economic impact on host countries. However, migrants spend 85 per cent of their earnings in their host communities. Similarly, migrants across the globe sent approximately USD 600 billion in remittances in 2017, which is three times higher than the global Overseas Development Assistance (ODA). In this way, migrants contribute to the development of both the country of origin and host states. By accepting this known but concealed fact and developing policies to utilize the potential of migrants, the Global Compact aims to minimize the global resentments against migration. The Compact also states that it is rooted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In addition, the Global Compact puts the rights of migrant women and children at its heart by mainstreaming a gender perspective. Among the 258 million migrants around the world, more than 50 per cent are women and girls. Moreover, women constitute 74 per cent of international migrant domestic workers. The Compact has two guiding principles that articulate the need for ‘gender-responsive’ and ‘child-sensitive’ migration policies. Moreover, many of its objectives and commitments argue for ‘gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.’ Terms such as ‘gender-responsive’/’gender-equality’ or ‘gender-based violence’ appear 29 times in the 34-page document. Similarly, the Compact aims to enhance global cooperation to reduce migration-related deaths, and in combating smuggling and trafficking, all of which are priorities for any government.

Climate change is another global problem contributing to the migration crisis The Global Compact recognizes climate change as a driver for migration and lays out a framework for dealing with it. According to the World Bank, around 143 million people, especially in the developing world, could be forced to relocate within their countries by 2050. Another study shows that about 2 billion people may become climate change refugees by 2100. The Compact proposes building a Platform on Disaster Displacement” and developing an ‘Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change’ to address the issue.

With its comprehensive approach to migrants and their problems, the Global Compact for Migration provides both opportunities and challenges. First, it puts forth a balanced approach by framing goals that correspond to the interests of different stakeholders. For instance, while Objective 20, promoting the transfer of remittances, serves the interest of states of origin, Objective 21, facilitating return and readmission, satisfies the receiving countries. While respecting national sovereignty and international law, the Compact acknowledges the prerogative of States to decide who they allow onto their territory. It, therefore, provides for enhanced cooperation among states to manage global migration.

Second, migration, provided it can be monitored appropriately, can positively contribute to the development of both the countries of origin and the host. However, fear of the outsider has created massive popular sentiments against migrants in host nations. s. The Global Compact helps to dispel these fears by giving preference to evidence-based policies through data collection and accurate information about migrants. This approach will be helpful in dispelling misguided and xenophobic policies, particularly in Europe and the United States. Proper implementation of the objectives of the Compact will ensure that migration works for all and contribute to solving the global migration crisis. The adoption of the Compact by New Zealand just a few days after the Marrakech Conference shows that the Compact is finding resonance and acceptability and is a step in the right direction.

Third, many see the non-binding nature of the Global Compact as a challenge and the most significant limitation. They fear that the Compact will be just another talking shop without making any real difference to the migration problem. However, in international politics, distinction between binding texts (hard law) and non-binding texts (soft law) is minimal because the parties, i.e., the states themselves, enforce both types of agreements. Moreover, soft law also ensures the support of the maximum number of members and a fast process since it usually does not require voting in domestic parliaments. None of the objectives or commitments of the Compact imposes any new obligation on the signatories. Instead, it reiterates the existing treaties and conventions. Issues with hard law can be seen in the approach of the UN member states towards the 1951 Refugee Convention, a legally binding document. Even after six decades of its adoption, more than 50 countries are yet to sign the agreement.

The most significant challenges before the Compact lie in its implementation and in the many significant countries that have not signed up to it. The refusal of many countries, including the United States, Australia and Hungary, to adopt the Compact corresponds with the rise of populism and anti-immigrant sentiments across the globe. These countries view the adoption of the Compact as an instance of surrender of sovereignty. Addressing the gap between reality and perception about migration and migrants will be a great challenge before the Compact in the coming years. Finally, the Compact does not talk about who will coordinate, monitor and fund its implementation. Since member states are responsible for implementation, they will have to do much more than mere reviews and occasional follow up in order to achieve the goals of the Compact.

Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDSA or of the Government of India.

*About the author: Rajeesh Kumar is Associate Fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi

Source: This article was published by IDSA
Brazil formally withdraws from the UN's Global Compact for Migration pact; however, Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo says that the country will continue to accept Venezuelan refugees.