Right-wing and far-right protesters attend the "March Against Marrakech" rally in front of EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 16, 2018. Zheng Huansong/ Press Association. All rights reserved.
As its title might suggest, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was not supposed to be controversial. It is the first international framework to help countries achieve mutual goals on international migration, like combatting human trafficking or making sure that all migrants have adequate identity documents. It is impossible for any country to accomplish these tasks alone, making the establishment of an international cooperation framework all the more urgent.
But despite its nonprovocative (and non-binding) nature, the compact has become a target of far-right politicians in Europe who have stirred up a flurry of political shuffling and gamesmanship leading up to the meeting on 10 and 11 December in Marrakesh, where UN member states approved the final draft of the compact.
