Shropshire Star

Angela Merkel urges respect for migrants in speech at UN conference

Germany’s Chancellor, who was speaking in Morocco, has welcomed large numbers of refugees to her country.

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Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has said a UN accord on migration is “about nothing less than the foundation of our international co-operation”.

Mrs Merkel, who welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees from places like Syria and Afghanistan to her country, hailed an “important day” after more than 160 countries approved the first Global Compact for Migration at a United Nations conference in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Central American Migrant Caravan
A Honduran migrant girl pushes through fencing after squeezing through a gap in the US border wall with her mother (Rebecca Blackwell/AP)

She pointed to the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights being celebrated also on Monday, saying human rights apply “to every person on our planet”.

Mrs Merkel also inveighed against dangers posed by people smugglers, saying they could not be allowed to control borders.

She received a standing ovation after ending her speech by saying the United Nations was founded on the embers of the Second World War, and alluded to the “incredible suffering on humankind” wrought by the Nazi regime.

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