Chile declines to sign U.N. pact, says migration not a human right: report

Chile has become the latest country to pull out of a controversial United Nations migration pact, its interior ministry indicated, provoking fury among opposition parties who accused Sebastian Pinera’s government of “shameful and authoritarian” behavior.

Rodrigo Ubilla, Chile’s Interior Ministry subsecretary, told Chilean Sunday paper El Mercurio in an interview that the country’s representatives would not attend the event to adopt the pact early next week in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.

“Our position is clear,” he said. “We have said that migration is not a human right. Countries have a right to determine the entry requirements for foreign citizens.”

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The migration pact addresses issues such as how to protect people who migrate, integrate them into new countries or return them to their home countries.

It is non-binding but has met fierce resistance from governments including the United States, Austria, Hungary and Poland who frame it as encouraging migration.