Making a global compact: The objectives and institutions of the Marrakesh Compact

In September 2016 the UN adopted a Resolution calling for the negotiation of two compacts, one for safe, orderly and regular migration and the other for refugees. The international community gave itself a timetable of two years for agreeing the two compacts. The first year was dedicated to stocktaking with multiple actors (governmental, international, and civil society), and the second year was devoted to negotiations between states. The two compacts were adopted by the General Assembly in December 2018. This chapter examines the Marrakesh Compact (the one for safe, orderly and regular migration adopted initially in Marrakesh, Morocco) from the perspective of the institutions and actors that framed its contents. The discussion elucidates the struggles between the different actors, their motivations, and fundamental differences in how they viewed the relationship between human rights, development, and migration. It highlights the tension between some states of the Global North, who view themselves as destination states seeking to control their borders, and others, mainly belonging to the Global South, who sought a legitimate strategy on migration that protects human rights for all. The chapter concludes that these internal dynamics in the drafting process resulted in the push for a non-legally binding ‘Compact’ which is inherent in its inclusion as part of the strategy of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.