National Council committee says no to the UN migration pact
Published: Friday, Oct 25th 2024, 17:10
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Switzerland should still not join the UN migration pact. After the Council of States, this is also the opinion of the responsible National Council committee. A majority does not see any concrete advantages of joining, rather the risks outweigh the benefits.
By 16 votes to 8 with one abstention, the National Council's Political Institutions Committee (SPK-N) has asked its Council to reject the UN migration pact, as the parliamentary services announced on Friday. Instead, Parliament should merely take note of the guiding principles and objectives of the pact.
The Commission sees no added value in signing the pact, as stated in the communication. The past six years have shown that Switzerland's migration policy has not been negatively affected by not signing the pact.
The UN migration pact is a legally non-binding framework for action that does not require any domestic policy action and for which the Federal Council is responsible for signing. The pact was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2018. It sets out measures to regulate migration across borders.
The Federal Council actually wanted to sign the pact back in 2018, but decided against it because Parliament demanded a say. At the time, the discussion revolved around the effects of so-called "soft law", i.e. non-binding law.
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