Hungary to pull out of UN accord on migration

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has cracked down on immigration (AP) Credit: AP/Press Association Images

Hungary’s foreign minister said his country will pull out of a United Nations accord on migration to be adopted in December because it goes against his country’s security interests.

Foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said the UN’s Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the final draft of which was released last week, also goes against common sense.

He added that Hungary has doubts about the accord’s non-binding status.

Under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was elected in April to his third consecutive term, Hungary has adopted strict anti-migration measures and made it very difficult for refugees to obtain asylum.

The UN document is a “non-legally binding, co-operative framework” meant to foster “international co-operation among all relevant actors on migration, acknowledging that no state can address migration alone, and upholds the sovereignty of states and their obligations under international law”.