Sometimes small things indicate great change. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, also referred to as the United Nations Migration Pact, is a nonbinding document addressing the governance of global migration and is to be adopted at an intergovernmental conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, in December.

The document is deeply pro-migration. It calls it a source of innovation and growth, while also proposing measures to allow more migration and integration of migrants into developed nations. Yet its nonbinding nature has created a perception that it is humanistic boilerplate with no real political consequences.