NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS

 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT WELCOMES ENDORSEMENT OF MARRAKECH COMPACT ON MIGRATION

PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY REPORTS BACK ON RECENT VISITS TO MARRAKECH, MOROCCO AND DOHA, QATAR

 

United Nations, New York, 20 December 2018 – The President of the General Assembly, H.E. Maria Fernanda Espinosa, has welcomed the final adoption of the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration, also known as the Marrakech Compact on Migration, at the General Assembly.  The document was adopted with 152 votes in favour, with five against and 12 abstentions. In her opening remarks to the General Assembly, President María Fernanda Espinosa said that the “Global Compact is a useful tool and that its text takes into consideration different perspectives of migration and that not one single country can resolve challenges alone”. Ms. Espinosa also pointed out that the endorsement of the Compact is the best tribute to approximately 258 million migrants in the world.”

The President of the General Assembly has also recently returned from Morocco, where the Global Compact was first adopted by Member States. While in Marrakech, the President delivered the opening statement at a side event organized by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on decent work and labour migration.  She also delivered a statement at the International Organization for Migration – European Union (IOM-EU) Side Event on “Kick-starting the Global Compact on Migration Implementation.”  On the 10th of December, the PGA  honoured the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by giving the opening remarks at the special commemoration event.

The President of the General Assembly also delivered a statement during the closing session of the Intergovernmental Conference to adopt the Compact.

The President also held a Press Conference in Marrakech to mark the adoption of the Compact.

The President also held a series of bilateral meetings with Heads of State and Government officials, and met representatives from Civil Society, as well as holding several interviews with media, including; including Deutsche Welle, New York Times, Reuters, RaiNews, M2, France24 and EFE.

The President of the General Assembly, Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa made an official visit to The State of Qatar during (13th – 16th December 2018), to take part in the Doha Forum: The President visited the Al Shafallah Center for Persons with Disabilities and also met leading women from the Qatar Foundation for Social Work.

The President was a guest speaker at the College of Law at Qatar University to discuss; “Multilateralism under Threat: the challenges facing the UN in the lead-up to its 75th anniversary”.

The President participated in Strategic Partner Luncheon: A high-level luncheon discussion on Stabilizing Regional Fault Lines in the Middle East and Gulf, co-hosted by the Doha Forum and the International Crises Group (ICG).

During the visit to Doha, Qatar, the President had interviews with several media outlets including; Financial Times, Buzzfeed, Al-Jazeera English TV; ‘Talk to Al -Jazeera’, El Universal, Izvestia, La Stampa, The Hindu and Times Now.

Hashtags: #UN_PGA, #UN4ALL

 

Website: https://www.un.org/pga/73/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UN_PGA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unpga

YouTube: https://bit.ly/2S7Wl3q

 ***

For media inquiries, please contact:

  • Office of President of the UN General Assembly:
  • Mark Seddon: Tel: +1 917 378 1659 | seddon@un.org
  • Monica Grayley: Tel: +1 212 963 6988 | grayley@un.org