UPSC Prelims 2023 Question:

Consider the following statements

1. Recently, all the countries of the United Nations have adopted the first-ever compact for international migration, the ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM)’.
2. The objective and commitments stated in the GCM are binding on the UN member countries.
3. The GCM address internal migration or internally displaced people also in its objectives and commitments.
   
   

How many of the above statements are correct?

Explanation:

• The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is the first intergovernmental agreement, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations, to cover all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner. It was adopted at an intergovernmental conference on migration in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 10 December 2018. The pact was agreed by all 193 members, except the United States. But at the ceremony to adopt the text on 10 December, only 164 countries formally adopted it. So, statement 1 is not correct.
  
  

• The Global Compact for Migration is the first-ever UN global agreement on a common approach to international migration in all its dimensions. The global compact is non-legally binding. So, statement 2 is not correct.
  
  
• Key commitments of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM)’ include:
  • Strengthening evidence-based and human rights-based policy-making and public discourse on migration;
  • Minimising the adverse drivers of migration, including combatting poverty and discrimination and addressing climate and disaster-related displacement;
  • Ensuring migrants’ rights to information and to a legal identity;
  • Expanding and diversifying the availability of pathways for safe, orderly and regular migration, taking into account the particular needs of migrants in situations of vulnerability;
  • Protecting the right to decent work and other labour rights for migrants;
  • Addressing and reducing vulnerabilities and human rights violations in the context of migration;
  • Protecting the right to life in the context of migration;
  • Combatting smuggling and trafficking while protecting the human rights of those who have been smuggled or trafficked;
  • Respecting human rights at borders and conducting human rights-based and individualised screening, assessment and referral of migrants;
  • Protecting the right to liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention, including by prioritising alternatives to immigration detention;
  • Ensuring migrants’ rights to access basic services, including health, education, and social support, without discrimination;
  • Eliminating discrimination and combatting hate speech and xenophobia;
  • Upholding the prohibitions of collective expulsion and refoulement for all migrants, ensuring that returns are safe and dignified and reintegration is sustainable. So, statement 3 is not correct.
    
    

Therefore, option (4) is the correct answer.

Subject: Polity | International Relations