COMMITTEE ON PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS CONCLUDES THIRD SESSION

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families today concluded its week-long third session during which it held a Day of General Discussion on protecting the rights of migrant workers and celebrated International Migrants Day. In deliberations, Committee Experts discussed ways and means of strengthening existing cooperation with various relevant bodies in order to enhance the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant workers. They also continued to discuss the Committee’s working methods in respect of the consideration of initial reports by States parties.

The Committee’s Day of General Discussion was on the theme of protecting the rights of all migrant workers as a tool to enhance development. Participants discussed the protection of the human rights of migrant workers and members of their families and its impact on development both in the country of origin, and in the county of employment. Discussing this topic will allow the Committee to make a contribution to the high-level dialogue of the General Assembly in 2006 devoted to international migration and development. It will also highlight the human rights approach to migration and development.

The Committee celebrated International Migrants Day, together with the Steering Committee on the Promotion of the Migrant Workers Convention, by viewing the film Birds of Passage by Louk Vreewsijk about labour migration from Sri Lanka to the Middle East. This was followed by a discussion on the topics raised by the film, in which the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Jorge Bustamante, participated.

The Committee took note of the report of the Global Commission on International Migration. The Committee expressed its concern about the focus of the report, which approached migration fundamentally from a market perspective thereby increasing the risk that migrants were considered as commodities rather than human beings. The Committee regretted that the report did not specifically support the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and did not call upon all States to ratify or accede to the Convention. The Committee underlined the importance of the Convention as part of the legal and normative framework for international migration and as one of the seven “core” United Nations human rights treaties. The Committee recalled the significance of guaranteeing human rights to all migrant workers and members of their families in order to remove the incentives for exploitation of migrant workers and to discourage the employment of migrant workers in an irregular situation.

The Committee adopted its list of issues on the initial report of Mali which will be sent to the Government of Mali. The public examination of the report of Mali is scheduled for the Committee's fourth session in April 2006.

More than 150 million migrants, including migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers, permanent immigrants and others, live and work in a country other than that of their birth or citizenship. They represent 2 percent of the world's population. Persons who qualify as migrant workers under the provisions of the Convention are entitled to enjoy their human rights regardless of their legal status.

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families entered into force on 1 July 2003. The Convention seeks to play a role in preventing and eliminating the exploitation of migrant workers throughout the entire migration process. It provides a set of binding international standards to address the treatment, welfare and human rights of both documented and undocumented migrants, as well as the obligations and responsibilities on the part of sending and receiving States. To date, 34 States have ratified the treaty.

The Committee was created to monitor how States parties to the Convention abide by their obligations under the treaty. It consists of 10 Experts. States parties accept the obligation to report to the Committee on the steps they have taken to implement the Convention within a year of its entry into force for the State concerned, and thereafter every five years.

The next session of the Committee will be held from 24 to 28 April 2006 in Geneva.


Members of the Committee

The members of the Committee are Francisco Alba (Mexico); Francisco Carrion Mena (Ecuador); Ana Elizabeth Cubias Medina (El Salvador); Ana Maria Dieguez (Guatemala); Ahmed Hassan El-Borai (Egypt); Abdelhamid El Jamari (Morocco); Arthur Shatto Gakwandi (Uganda); Prasad Kariyawasam (Sri Lanka); Jose Serrano Brillantes (Philippines); and Azad Taghizade (Azerbaijan).

Mr. Kariyawasam is the Chairperson. The Vice-Chairpersons are Mr. Brillantes, Ms. Dieguez and Mr. El-Borai. The Rapporteur is Mr. Alba.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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