Asia-Pacific Group Meeting on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration

 19 February 2018 UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK — H.E. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.  as Chair the Asia Pacific Regional Group, chairs a meeting on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) with the two co-facilitators for the GCM negotiations, H.E. Juan José Gómez Camacho, Permanent Representative of Mexico, and H.E. Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland on 13 February 2018. In his national capacity, Ambassador Locsin remarked that “for a country with one of the biggest groups of migrant workers, I am pleased with the emphasis on a strong monitoring system, and the recognition that the primary role of sovereignty is to keep track of citizens with a view to helping them when in trouble or to point out opportunities. The Compact will not be legally binding but it will set the standard for proper behavior on the ground, this is as basically decent behavior as we have the right to expect from fellow human beings and their societies and governments. And that is a lot. It will not contain all everyone wants but it will set forth everything we have been able to get. This will be as good as it gets even if it is not as good as we all want it to be.”

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