Parliament doesn't object to Lithuania joining UN migration pact

VILNIUS – Lithuania's parliament on Tuesday did not object to the country joining the UN migration pact, underlining, however, that the document is not legally binding.

With 73 votes in favor, 21 against and 21 abstentions, the Seimas of Lithuania today adopted a resolution which does not prevent the interior minister from attending the signing of the UN agreement in Morocco.

The resolution states that the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is a global agreement on the treatment of migration but it's not a legally-binding document. The resolution says it does not cause any legal consequences for the State of Lithuania's migration policy, does not create any new legal categories and is not aimed at creating provisions of international customary law.

The resolution also points out that countries themselves choose the ways of contributing to the implementation of this agreement.

It also proposed to the Government of Lithuania to submit a unilateral declaration, or a multilateral one in case of a group of like-minded countries, matching the provisions of this parliamentary resolution.

"This declaration contains the proposal to take part in the process and draw those red lines, look for partners who think in a similar way and try to influence that process in a beneficial direction," Zygimantas Pavilionis, a member of the opposition conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, said presenting the draft resolution.

Agreed in July after 18 months of negotiations, the UN migration pact is set to be adopted at a conference in Morocco on Dec. 10-11. The document contains 23 goals related to the management of legal migration and better control of migrations flows as the flow of migrants reached 250 million, making 3 percent of the global population.

The United States, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Switzerland and several other countries are against the pact.