Today in the UN General Assembly, 152 states endorsed the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. This is a clear success for multilateralism. And it is a strong commitment on the part of the international community to ensuring decent and dignified conditions for migrants.

With the adoption of the Compact in Marrakech on 10 December and its endorsement by the UN General Assembly today, the international community has agreed on a basic policy document for international cooperation on migration issues. The Compact is the first comprehensive framework of this kind and is based on broad consensus among the UN member states.

It recognises that migration is a global reality to which there can be no exclusively national responses. Managing migration is one of the most pressing challenges for multilateralism. The priority is to steer migration effectively and in an orderly manner, to shape it actively, and at the same time to reduce irregular migration. The Compact is thus an important element of comprehensive, sustainable migration policy.