On Wednesday, the government of Hungary announced it would join the United State in withdrawing from a U.N. global compact on migration. The government called the compact “in conflict with common sense” and national security. The U.S. pulled out of the compact last December.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó stated, “The primary issue for us is the security of Hungary and the Hungarian people, and this document is totally at odds with the country’s security interests. According to the Government’s position, the U.N. Global Compact for Migration is in conflict with common sense and also with the intent to restore European security.” He added, “The Government regards this premise as unacceptable and regard migration as a bad process that has extremely serious security aspects.”
Last December, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had asserted, “The United States supports international cooperation on migration issues, but it is the primary responsibility of sovereign states to help ensure that migration is safe, orderly, and legal.”
The agreement, officially called the “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration,” had stated that no country could address migration on its own, writing, “The Global Compact is a non-legally binding document. Its authority rests on its consensual nature, credibility, collective ownership, and joint implementation. This cooperative framework recognizes that no State can effectively address migration on its own due to the inherently transnational nature of the phenomenon.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz Party has centered on reducing mass migration as a focus of its agenda. President Trump told Orban in June that he agreed “on the need for strong national borders,” according to the White House.
As Fox News notes, “Hungary was on the front lines of the 2015 migration crisis, and angered international groups by building a border fence and deploying troops to the border in the wake of the crisis.”