[7] The agreed upon process consisted of the following three phases: On 9 March 2017, Louise Arbour was appointed by Secretary-General Guterres as his Special Representative for International Migration and was thus tasked with working with the nations and stakeholders to develop the compact.

On 10 December 2018, the document was approved by 164 nations during the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

Within their sovereign jurisdiction, States may distinguish between regular and irregular migration status, including as they determine their legislative and policy measures for the implementation of the Global Compact, taking into account different national realities, policies, priorities and requirements for entry, residence and work, in accordance with international law.

[19] Calling the agreement a "historic moment", General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák emphasized "It does not encourage migration, nor does it aim to stop it.

[39] All the parties (N-VA, Open Vld, CD&V and MR) did in fact agree on the compact and Charles Michel announced Belgium's favourable position at the General Assembly of the UN on 27 September 2018.

Citing "immigration must be treated in accordance with the reality and sovereignty of each country", Bolsonaro again confirmed the withdrawal in a ceremony that happened on 2 January 2019.

[46][47][48] On 8 January 2019, Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo asked diplomats to inform the UN that Brazil had withdrawn from the Global Compact for Migration.

[49][50] In January 2023, after President Lula took office for his third term under the government slogan "Union and reconstruction", Itamaraty officially communicated the country's return to the Global Compact, reinforcing "the Brazilian Government's commitment to the protection and promotion of the rights of more than 4 million Brazilians living abroad".

According to the Estonian Prime Minister, the declaration would provide the basis for the Governments decision to support the Global Compact for Migration.

Instead, Estonia's ambassador to the UN would vote in support of the compact on 19 December, during the gathering of the United Nations General Assembly.

[65] Lithuania: On 4 December 2018, the Lithuanian parliament voted for a resolution which acknowledged the need for international cooperation in dealing with the challenges that migration creates and that no state can solve them alone.

The Foreign Minister Winston Peters defended his government's decision on the grounds "that the compact was not legally binding and did not restrict New Zealand from setting its own migration policies."

We are not in favor of shifting the burden to others, while the current complicated migration situation is largely a result of irresponsible interference into the internal affairs of sovereign States of Middle East and North Africa.

In this context, the countries that were actively involved in such interference should primarily bear the greatest responsibility, including for the migration-related consequences.Slovakia: After a dispute broke out within the Government of Slovakia on whether to adopt the framework,[75] it was decided that the issue would be moved to parliament for discussion.

Following this, the Slovakian Foreign Affairs Minister, Miroslav Lajčák, announced that he would contemplate his resignation if the parliament rejected the compact.

[23] His vice chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, argued that the compact could potentially be interpreted as defining migration as a "human right", which he said "can and must not be the case.

Dutch MEP Marcel de Graaff alleged that the compact would allow to defund news outlets espousing anti-migration rhetoric and that the pact could be used to criminalize political criticism.

[91] The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel criticised the German Federal Foreign Office in November 2018 for not explaining why the final version of the compact was different from the last published draft by pointing out that the wording had been changed from migration "could have positive effects" to migration "does have positive effects".

[92] By using the German freedom of information act, the newspaper obtained several documents by May 2019 which revealed demands by some nations to make some aspects of the pact binding.

The details of those talks had been removed from the documents by the Foreign Office, in a self proclaimed attempt to prevent damage to Germany's reputation as a reliable partner.