The majority of UN member countries formally adopted the UN global migrations pact at at a conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakech on Monday.
The decision was announced by the host of the conference, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. There was no official voting.
In July, all 193 UN member countries, except the United States, which pulled out of the talks, finalised the so-called Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, designed to help manage the problem of migrations around the world.
Although the agreement is not binding, it has since then been slammed by a variety of populist and far-right European politicians who claim that accepting the pact would result in increased migrations from Africa and the Middle East.
At least eight EU countries – Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Latvia, Italy – rejected the agreement.
The pact outlines a framework for international cooperation which aims to reduce illegal migrations, help integrate migrants, or repatriate them back to their countries of origin.
On Sunday Chile was the last country to pull out of the pact, and on the same day the senior coalition party in Belgium left the government over the issue.
In November, Austria’s right-wing government, which currently chairs the European Union, announced it would pull out of the pact, saying the agreement blurs the line between legal and illegal migrations.
Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic represented Croatia in Marrakech after President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic had backed out of going to the event.
In his speech, Bozinovic said Croatia, as a country affected by migration flows due to its geopolitical position,was “deeply aware of the need to regulate migration.”
“Under the current challenges it faces, the Republic of Croatia will, as already pointed out, due to its significant exposure to irregular migration, continue to be as persistent as it has been so far in protecting the Croatian international border, which is also the longest external border of the European Union,” he said.
He repeated that the document does not create any legal obligations for the states, “nor does it seek to establish international customary law, or further interpret existing treaties or national obligations.”
“It is most important that we all become aware that migration is a phenomenon that will not go away and which we will continue to face for many years to come. We see this Compact as the beginning of a process. It is thus, our task, as responsible members of the international community, to define our sovereign roles in it,” Bozinovic concluded.
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