The Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, Mr. Charlie Flanagan T.D., has welcomed the successful completion of negotiations led by Ireland at the United Nations to agree a new global approach to addressing the issues facing refugees and migrants.
These complex negotiations among the UN's 193 member states were co-chaired by Ireland’s Ambassador to the United Nations in New York over the past five months. Reflecting Ireland’s long-standing priorities, the agreement has a strong human rights focus, with clear undertakings by UN member states to protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants, regardless of status.
Welcoming the agreement, Minister Flanagan said:
“This is a critically important and timely agreement. For the first time ever, the 193 member states of the UN have come together to comprehensively address this a global crisis, which requires global solutions. It will involve shared responsibility for actions aimed at saving lives and the provision of vital policy support and humanitarian and developmental assistance for those involved."
The Minister added:
“This is also a landmark achievement of Irish diplomacy, and follows our role last year in brokering the new UN Sustainable Development Goals. Ireland’s role in driving this agreement demonstrates once again our profound commitment to the UN and the contribution we can make in responding to the greatest challenges facing the world.
I congratulate Ambassador David Donoghue, Ireland's Permanent Representative to the UN, and his team in New York on this outstanding success.
I also congratulate Peter Sutherland, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for International Migration, for his tireless work on behalf of migrants for many years. Peter will be playing an important role in support of negotiations to deliver a Global Compact on migration in 2018, and I know his experience and skill will be both necessary and timely."
ENDS
Press Office
15 August 2016
Notes for Editors
In February, the President of the UN General Assembly appointed Ireland’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador David Donoghue, and his Jordanian counterpart, Ambassador Dina Kawar, to lead negotiations on an outcome document and organisational details for a summit of world leaders to be held at UN Headquarters in New York on 19 September on the theme of addressing large movements of refugees and migrants.
The successful outcome to the negotiations led by Ambassador Donoghue and Ambassador Kawar is contained in a draft Declaration which will be put forward for formal adoption at the 19 September meeting. The draft Declaration delivers strong messages of solidarity with refugees and migrants. It also contains a wide range of detailed policy commitments which will cumulatively ensure a more humane, dignified and compassionate response by the international community to the plight of refugees and migrants and the issues that affect them.
The draft Declaration sets out a comprehensive refugee response framework for application to present and future challenges and also outlines steps towards the achievement of a further ‘Global Compact on Refugees’ in 2018.
Steps for the negotiation process that will lead to a ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’ in the same year, in which the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for International Migration, Peter Sutherland, will be involved, are also outlined.
The full text of the draft Declaration is available at http://www.un.org/pga/70/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/HLM-on-addressing-large-movements-of-refugees-and-migrants-Draft-Declaration-5-August-2016.pdf and further information on the UN approach to refugee and migrant-related issues is at http://refugeesmigrants.un.org/ .