COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS OPENS ITS TWENTY-NINTH SESSION

The Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers this morning opened its twenty-ninth session, hearing an address by Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, and adopting its agenda and programme of work.

At the beginning of the meeting, Committee Members held a minute of silence to pay tribute to Committee Member and Rapporteur, Khedidja Ladjel of Algeria, who recently passed away. The Committee agreed to elect Lazhar Soualem of Algeria to replace Ms. Ladjel.

In her opening statement, Ms. Gilmore conveyed to Committee Experts the greetings of the outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, and of the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, whose term had begun on 1 September 2018. She also paid homage to Committee Member Khedidja Ladjel of Algeria. The Deputy High Commissioner underlined that the loyalty of those serving in the international human rights system was not to a single treaty or to particular Governments, but to people in whose name they served. Recalling multiple anniversaries of major human rights declarations in 2018, she stressed that migrants were nowadays subjected to egregious attack – rhetorically and in political discourse, and met with violence on the street, at the border, and even at sea. The mandate of the Committee on Migrant Workers would always be of significance, but current times made it strategic and high priority, the Deputy High Commissioner underlined.


The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. this afternoon to consider the initial report of Mozambique (CMW/C/MOZ/1).


Statements

KATE GILMORE, United Nations Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights, conveyed to Committee Experts the greetings of the outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, and of the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, whose term had begun on 1 September 2018. Ms. Gilmore also paid homage to Committee Member Khedidja Ladjel of Algeria, who had recently passed away. The Deputy High Commissioner underlined that those who had been fortunate to serve in the international human rights system must not allow themselves to be distracted from where their deepest duty lay. Their loyalty was not to a single treaty, certainly not to particular Governments, but to people in whose name they served. And it was to them that they owed account for what they achieved and for what they did not achieve. Ms. Gilmore added that 2018 was indeed a year of significant milestones for rights. It was the twentieth anniversary of the Human Rights Defenders Declaration, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration that had established the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human rights standards had been forged amidst the global rubble, wrack and ruin after the Second World War and the Holocaust. Although today’s politicized fictions may tempt everyone to believe otherwise, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had not been the mere impost of privileged, white, liberal neo-colonialism. The West had been among the most reluctant drafters and the Declaration’s content had been the product of demands from newly de-colonized States. Latin American States had been the strongest promoters of social and economic rights; the Soviet Union had concentrated on race discrimination, while the United States Chair of the drafting group, Eleanor Roosevelt, had had little to do with the actual wording. India and Pakistan had argued persuasively for equal pay, equal distribution of property, and equal application of marriage laws, specifically against child marriage. And it was a member of India’s Constituent Assembly who had ensured the gender inclusiveness of the first article of the Declaration, arguing successively that instead of the proposed “all men are born equal,” it had to read “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and human rights.”

Seventy years later, how could it be that the supreme value of each and every person was under attack? Nowhere was that clearer than with regard to migrants. How could it be that migrants were subjected to egregious attack – rhetorically and in political discourse, and were met with violence on the street, at the border, even at sea? Callous, reckless political vandalism reached to such levels that a Government would seek to criminalize even individuals and groups deemed to be supporting or aiding asylum-seekers, refugees or undocumented migrants. The mandate of the Committee on Migrant Workers would always be of significance, but current times made it strategic and high priority. The situation of migrants had become perhaps the most pressing concern, as the Global Compact on Migration conveyed. Decent employment and the opportunities for dignified labour were at the forefront of solutions for a world grappling with the consequences of deepening inequality. Treaty body work was under strain – with challenges issued to substance, working methods and resources. In his meeting with treaty body chairpersons, the United Nations Secretary-General had expressed his strong support for treaty bodies, and his next report on treaty body strengthening would be an opportunity to engage the various challenges faced by treaty bodies, including in terms of resources, Ms. Gilmore concluded.

AHMADOU TALL, Committee Chairperson, thanked the Deputy High Commissioner for her comments, adding that the Committee wanted to work hand in hand with the Office of the High Commissioner.

The Committee then adopted the agenda and programme of the twenty-ninth session, and it proceeded to approve the election of Lazhar Soualem of Algeria as a Committee Member to replace Ms. Ladjel.

The Committee also held a ballot vote to elect a new Committee Rapporteur, but as the vote ended in a draw between the two candidates, it decided to further discuss that issue in private.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CMW18/07E