Clayton Mitchell New Zealand First MP

In December, New Zealand joined 151 other countries which voted in favour of the United Nations Global Compact for Migration.

There has been much public debate and some misguided perceptions over whether signing up compromises New Zealand's ability to set its own migration and foreign policy.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters made it clear that the government's decision to go ahead was based on advice from Crown Law that the compact explicitly states that countries will continue to maintain their own borders and retain their own sovereign rights around migration policy.

As the UN Migration Compact is not a legally binding document, the question 'why, then, would we sign it?” is often raised.

For New Zealand to be considered a responsible international partner, we need to be sharing in the concerns of other nations and to be supportive of their solutions. The compact gives us the opportunity to participate in international efforts to address slavery and human trafficking.

Part of that effort is the collection and utilisation of data, to help ensure that women and children remain ‘seen' by authorities. This is important, as there are global hot spots in Europe when it comes to the slavery of women and children.

In the last few years alone we've seen over 10,000 children go missing, while human trafficking has resulted in up to 60,000 deaths a year.

Despite being a small nation, our leadership on humanitarian issues has always provided us with a strong international reputation. And with the United Kingdom exiting the EU, we need to maintain that reputation to maximise our relationships and the strong trading opportunities to come.