The majority of UN member countries formally adopted the UN global migrations pact at at a conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakech on Monday.

The decision was announced by the host of the conference, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. There was no official voting.

In July, all 193 UN member countries, except the United States, which pulled out of the talks, finalised the so-called Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, designed to help manage the problem of migrations around the world.

Although the agreement is not binding, it has since then been slammed by a variety of populist and far-right European politicians who claim that accepting the pact would result in increased migrations from Africa and the Middle East.

At least eight EU countries – Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Latvia, Italy – rejected the agreement.

The pact outlines a framework for international cooperation which aims to reduce illegal migrations, help integrate migrants, or repatriate them back to their countries of origin.

On Sunday Chile was the last country to pull out of the pact, and on the same day the a senior coalition party in Belgium left the government over the issue.

In November, Austria's right-wing government, which currently chairs the European Union, announced it would pull out of the pact, saying that the agreement blurs the line between legal and illegal migrations.