Bulgaria Cabinet confirms country will not join UN Global Compact for Migration
Bulgaria’s Cabinet decided on December 5 that the country will not be joining the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, set to be adopted at a United Nations conference in Marrakesh, Morocco on December 10-11.
Both government and opposition politicians have, in recent weeks, spoken against Bulgaria signing the document. Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova, who successfully spearheaded efforts earlier this year to block Bulgaria’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, was once again at the forefront of the attacks, arguing that the document would “transform illegal migration into legal migration.”
The Cabinet’s formal decision on the country’s official position said that Bulgaria would not send an official representative to the UN conference next week and would abstain during the UN General Assembly resolution vote on the compact.
“The issue of more efficient management of migration processes is of key importance for Bulgaria. At this stage, the Bulgarian Government believes that the decision not to join the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration would best defend the interests of the country and its citizens,” the Government said in a statement.
“Bulgaria will continue to carry out its existing commitments concerning human rights and exercise strengthened controls over its national borders,” the statement said.
(Bulgarian government building in Sofia, photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
