One week after the adoption of the controversial UN Migrant Pact in Morocco, the United Nations has agreed another pact on refugees.
181 of the 193 member states voted in favor of the paper on Monday. Only the US and Hungary voted against it. Three states abstained, the other countries stayed away from the meeting.
Among other things, the pact aims to give refugees better access to schools, work and health care. Like the Migration Pact, it is not legally binding, but should politically oblige the states.
Support large host countries
The aim is to better support the largest host countries. Most refugees live according to UN data in Turkey, Pakistan, Uganda and Lebanon. Germany is also one of the ten countries to receive the largest number of refugees worldwide.
Representatives of right-wing parties and camps had partly set the mood against the agreement. Nationalists, populists and right-wing extremists have spread false information about the pact, said the Norwegian Refugee Agency (NRC).
However, the pact is an attempt to protect fleeing people „civilized and reasonably,“ tweeted NRC General Secretary Jan Egeland. According to UN figures, at the end of 2017 there were 68.5 million refugees worldwide, of which around 40 million were internally displaced persons.
