COMMITTEE ON PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS CONCLUDES SEVENTH SESSION

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families today presented its concluding observations and recommendations on the initial report of Ecuador, which it considered during this session, before concluding its week-long seventh session.

In its concluding observations on the initial report of Ecuador, the Committee welcomed the efforts by the State party to promote and protect the rights of Ecuadorian migrant workers abroad, including measures taken to facilitate their participation in national electoral processes. The Committee was concerned at the information that migrant workers and members of their families may suffer from discriminatory attitudes and social stigmatization. The Committee recommended that the State party continue and expand systematic education and training to all officials working in the area of migration or in contacts with migrant workers and members of their families, including at the local level.

Also during the session, the Committee discussed issues concerning follow-up to the Secretary-General’s study on violence against children, the status of reporting under the Convention, promotion of the Convention and organizational matters, including cooperation with other treaty bodies and treaty body reform.

On treaty body reform, Experts spoke of the Inter-Committee Meeting, noting that there was a greater commitment towards harmonising the work of the treaty bodies. With regards to promotion of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, Committee Experts noted that although advocacy and promotion of the Convention were not necessarily part of the Committee’s function, it recognised the importance of these, in particular as many countries had not yet ratified the Convention. It was suggested that as next year was the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention, something could perhaps be done in this regard. In discussions on organisational matters, Experts highlighted the need to encourage States parties to submit their initial reports, and to develop guidelines for the periodic reports.

The next session of the Committee will be from 14 to 25 April 2008, when it will take up the initial reports of Syria and Bolivia. It will also be celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Convention, and will hold a round table in order to highlight that event.

Concluding Observations

In its concluding observations and recommendations on the initial report of Ecuador, the Committee welcomed the efforts by the State party to promote and protect the rights of Ecuadorian migrant workers abroad, including measures taken to facilitate their participation in national electoral processes. It also welcomed the adoption of bilateral agreements with both countries of employment of Ecuadorian migrant workers, such as Spain, and countries of origin of migrant workers travelling to Ecuador, such as Peru and Colombia. The Committee further welcomed, among other things: that the National Secretariat for Migrants, mandated to develop and implement Ecuador’s migration policies, had been elevated to ministerial level in 2007; the implementation of migration regularization programmes by the State party with the aim of documenting irregular migrants, notwithstanding some shortcomings in their reach and results; the State party’s participation at the international level in efforts to promote the ratification of the Convention; and the creation of an information system on migration.

The Committee was concerned that a number of provisions in the national legislation, although considered obsolete, were at variance with the provisions of the Convention. This was a concern also because officials working in the administration of justice, including lawyers, judges and prosecutors, made little use of the Convention and rather relied on national norms. The Committee was concerned at the information that migrant workers and members of their families may suffer from discriminatory attitudes and social stigmatization. Furthermore, while taking note of the State party’s explanation in this respect, the Committee was concerned that the practice of asking for the certificate of criminal record exclusively to Colombian migrants may contribute to their stigmatization and stereotyping. The Committee noted that the State party sought to ensure that migrant workers and members of their families detained for violation of provisions relating to migration were held separately from convicted persons or persons detained pending trial. However, it was concerned that, due to the limited number of separated places of detention available, this right was not always guaranteed in practice, especially in isolated or sparsely populated areas of the country.

The Committee recommended that the State party fully harmonize its legislation with the Convention in order to give appropriate implementation to its provisions. The State party was also encouraged to develop awareness-raising programmes for judicial officials on the importance of being aware and making use of human rights treaties, including the Convention. The Committee encouraged the State party to pursue its efforts to create a sound database in line with all aspects of the Convention, including systematic data – as disaggregated as possible - concerning migrant workers in transit or in Ecuador. It recommended that the State party continue and expand systematic education and training to all officials working in the area of migration or in contacts with migrant workers and members of their families, including at the local level. The Committee recommended that the State party ensure that migrants or members of their families detained for violation of provisions relating to migration were deprived of their liberty for as short a time as possible and continue to take steps to guarantee that they be held, in so far as practicable, separately from convicted persons or persons detained pending trial, in accordance with article 17 of the Convention.


Members of the Committee

The members of the Committee are Francisco Alba (Mexico); José Serrano Brillantes (Philippines); Francisco Carrion-Mena (Ecuador); Ana Elizabeth Cubias Medina (El Salvador); Anamaría Dieguez Arévalo (Guatemala); Ahmed Hassan El-Borai (Egypt); Abdelhamid El Jamari (Morocco); Prasad Kariyawasam (Sri Lanka); Mehmet Sevim (Turkey); and Azad Taghizade (Azerbaijan).

Mr. Kariyawasam is the Chairperson. The Vice-Chairpersons are Mr. Brillantes, Ms. Cubias Medina and Mr. El Jamri. The Rapporteur is Mr. Alba.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CMW07011E