Hungary to quit UN migration pact before final approval: minister

BUDAPEST - Hungary will quit the United Nations migration pact before its final approval, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said here on Wednesday.

"This document goes entirely against Hungary's security interests," Szijjarto told a news conference, "and for us the safety of Hungarians is an absolute priority," he added.

The accord is to be formally adopted in December, but Hungary will not take part at the Morocco meeting, Szijjarto said, adding that the country would also oppose the pact should it come up for a vote in the General Assembly.

The document "goes against the will to restore security in Europe," the chief of Hungarian diplomacy said. The document will be a real inspiration "for millions to get on the road," he warned.

He reiterated that the Hungarian government regarded migration as a bad process, containing extremely serious security implications.

The document, though not legally binding, is the first intergovernmental agreement to cover wide-ranging dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner, agreed upon by all the UN member states minus the United States.

The process of developing the compact started in early 2017 as the implementation of a decision by the UN member states as the adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants in September 2016. Another decision pledged in the declaration is to develop a Global Compact on Refugees.

The UN members finalized text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration last Friday, marking the first time they came together to negotiate an agreement covering all dimensions of international migration.