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New Zealand votes for UN migration compact after legal advice
New Zealand will be voting for the controversial UN Migration Compact.
The Government sought legal advice before making the decision to become part of the first-ever UN global agreement on a common approach to international migration.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the advice said the compact did not compromise sovereignty.
"New Zealand is voting for the compact because we support greater efforts in controlling migration issues while also being confident our own sovereign decision making isn't compromised," he said.
The non-legally binding agreement was understood to be officially signed on December 19 after ceremonial events in Morocco last week.
A number of countries, including the United States and Australia, pulled out of the agreement because of the potential impact on the decision-making of individual countries.
And National Party leader Simon Bridges said if his party was in government, it would pull out of the compact because of its potential to restrict New Zealand's ability to set its own migration and foreign policy.
However, Peters said on Wednesday that New Zealand would support it for safe, orderly and regular migration after being satisfied fears about the document are unfounded.
"The Government would not support the UN compact if it compromised New Zealand's sovereignty or could in any way take precedence over our immigration or domestic laws. But the compact does not do that."
The Crown Law Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had provided legal advice that confirmed the UN cooperation framework was neither legally binding nor constraining on the country setting its own migration policies, he said.
"The legal advice from Crown Law is not surprising but is important advice in debunking falsehoods or misguided perceptions being spread about the implications of this framework."
The compact contains 23 objectives to manage migration that aims to enable migrants to enrich societies.
It followed the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 2016.
The UN states two core elements run throughout the text; that national sovereignty must be respected and the most effective means of implementing a national migration policy is through international cooperation.
Peters said the Government was aware the statements of other countries voting in support of the compact, such as the United Kingdom were underpinned by legal advice supporting their positions.
"In the end, New Zealand will be voting for a cooperation framework that was clearly set out at the start of the compact's negotiations process in 2016, when the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants was unanimously adopted by all UN member states, including New Zealand under the previous government," Peters said.
Legal advice:
· The compact is non-legally binding and does not create legal obligations.
· It does not establish customary international law.
· The compact should not be taken to give the legal instruments referred to in the text as having any binding effect that those instruments do not already have in international law.
· It reaffirms the sovereign right of States to determine national immigration policy and laws and that States have the sole authority to distinguish between regular and irregular migratory status.
· The compact does not establish any new human rights law, nor create any new categories of migrants, nor establish a right to migrate.
· The compact in no way restricts or curtails established human rights, including the right to freedom of expression.
Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...r-legal-advice
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