FIDH welcomes ratification by Paraguay of the UN Migrants’ Workers Convention and calls on EU member states to follow Paraguay’s example

FIDH welcomes the recent ratification by Paraguay of the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (MWC) [1]. This represents an important step for the protection of the rights of migrant workers. Paraguay’s ratification brings the total number of ratifications to 38.

However, 18 years after its adoption, the Convention has still not been ratified by the large majority of states, including all the major migrant-receiving countries. FIDH particularly deplores the failure of all European Member States to ratify the Convention. The MWC is the only international human right treaty not to have been ratified by EU members.
"It is an unacceptable paradox that all those states which have historically been countries of emigration have not yet ratified this Convention", said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President. "The persistance of human rights’ violations against migrant workers, who remain particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, demonstrates the urgent need for ratification".
"In the year of the anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, EU member states must demonstrate that they are truly committed to universal human rights by recognising the fundamental human rights of migrant workers", Ms Belhassen concluded.
In order to ensure that the MWC becomes an effective instrument for fighting violations of migrants’ human rights, all states, those of departure, transit and destination of migrants, must ratify [2]. FIDH takes this occasion to call upon all states that have not yet ratified the MWC, and in particular European Union member states, to demonstrate commitment to protecting fundamental human rights by ratifying the Convention.

 Status of ratifications of the MWC as of September 2008

  • 38 countries : Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Uganda, Uruguay.
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