COMMITTEE ON PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS CONCLUDES SECOND SESSION

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families today concluded its week-long second session during which it adopted its provisional guidelines regarding the form and contents of initial reports to be submitted by States parties and agreed on its working methods in relation to the consideration of reports.

The Committee decided that it would in principle follow the practice established by other treaty bodies in the consideration of States parties’ reports. In particular, the Committee agreed that it would appoint two country rapporteurs for each initial report and adopt a list of issues which would be sent to the State party concerned one session prior to the session in which the report would be considered.

The Committee also decided that it would hold a General Day of Discussion at its third session in December on the topic: "Protecting the rights of all migrant workers as a tool to enhance development". Discussing this topic would allow the Committee to make a contribution to the High Level Dialogue of the General Assembly in 2006 devoted to international migration and development and highlight the human rights approach to migration and development.

During its session, the Committee met with High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour who noted that in the light of the magnitude of the migration phenomenon and the increasing attention that was being paid by States and international organizations to the management of related issues, it was of the utmost importance to implement a rights-based approach to migration. To this end, she said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had recently established an in-house Task Force on Migration, which met regularly in order to develop an Office-wide understanding of migration related issues on the basis of a human rights approach. The High Commissioner further stressed the importance that the Convention's position within the UN human rights treaty system be strengthened and that States parties to the Convention fulfil their reporting obligations so that the Committee could start exercising its primary task of considering States reports. She pledged the support of OHCHR in promoting the ratification of the Convention as one of the seven UN core human rights treaties and in assisting the Committee in its important work.

The Committee also met with Kamel Filali, Rapporteur for the harmonization of reporting under the treaty bodies to discuss the draft guidelines on an expanded core document and treaty-specific targeted reports and harmonized guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties. The Committee agreed in principle that the guidelines on an expanded core document and treaty specific reports were the way forward in order to harmonize and simplify reporting. In this connection, the Committee emphasized that the harmonization of the working methods of the treaty bodies should not prevent each treaty body from retaining its core competence.

The Committee Experts met with States parties to the Convention. The discussions focused on the preparation of the initial reports by States parties, the challenges faced in this respect, and the working methods in considering States parties’ reports. They also met with representatives of intergovernmental organizations and UN agencies and with non-governmental organizations.

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, 28 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 12 to 16 December 2005 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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