Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers Suspends its Thirty-Second Session

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families this afternoon suspended its online thirty-second session after adopting its concluding observations on the second periodic report of Chile.

Can Ünver, Committee Chairperson, noting that today the Committee had competed the large part of its thirty-second session and hence he would make his concluding remarks, said the COVID-19 pandemic had changed ways of working and this reminded the Committee more than ever that the effective protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families under the provisions of the Convention and regardless of their migratory status should be a priority for all States. And yet, this was the least ratified of all treaty bodies with 56 States parties – an inexplicable phenomena considering the importance of the issues it dealt with, and which affected the lives of millions across the globe, particularly in the challenging context of the pandemic.

The Committee had for the first time reviewed a State party report remotely, the second periodic report of Chile, and had adopted its concluding observations on it. It had also held a public meeting with States and other stakeholders.

The Chairperson added that the Committee had started reading the revised version of its General Comment no. 5 on migrant workers and members of their families’ rights to liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention. In that context, two additional meetings would take place online on 29 and 30 April 2021. The Committee had also had a deep and meaningful exchange with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, who had briefed Committee Experts on his activities. Committee Experts and the Special Rapporteur had discussed ways to continue cooperation on joint initiatives and effective protection of migrant workers under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Ünver said that the Migration Team of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Global Compact had updated the Committee on their joint collaboration, including through the United Nations Migration Network, the Global Forum on Migration and Development, and activities of the Office on migration-related issues. The Committee’s working group on the Convention and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration had decided in September 2020 to convert its thematic analysis on the synopsis between the two instruments into a General Comment no. 6 on the convergences between the Convention and the Global Compact. He reminded all Committee Experts that a joint meeting between the Committee, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was confirmed to take place on Thursday, 22 April, from 4 to 6 p.m. on enforced disappearances in the context of migration.

Mr. Ünver said the Committee had adopted its annual report ad referendum, covering the period of May 2020 to May 2021. It had also discussed the schedule of its forthcoming thirty-third session. He reminded that the Committee would resume the thirty-second session in closed meetings on 29 and 30 April.

The Committee’s concluding observations on the second periodic report of Chile will be posted on the session’s webpage.

The tentative dates of the Committee’s thirty-third session are from 27 September to 8 October 2021.

CMW21.004E