The International NGO Platform on the Migrant Workers’ Convention (IPMWC), launched by a regionally diverse group of civil society organisations in 2005, wishes to bring the following message to the attention of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, to be held in Brussels on 9-11 July 2007.
Over recent years, the issue of migration has been at the top of the political agenda in many countries. Within the international community too the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development held by the General Assembly in September 2006 and the upcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development demonstrate the increasing visibility being given to the issue of migration. As civil society actors that have worked for many years on issues relating to migration we welcome this attention, but at the same time call for vigilance on the part of all actors involved to ensure that migration policies and practices are located firmly within a rights-based framework.
In this context, we regret that the Global Forum intends to debate the issue of migration and development with so little attention to international human rights principles and standards. We urge that human rights should be a central theme in all the discussions planned during and around the Global Forum. Human rights principles and standards provide a unique framework through which to protect the individuals who are, and should be, central in the process of migration. Human rights also represent the “missing link” between migration and development, and provide a framework within which to reconcile the sometimes competing interests of countries of origin, transit and destination and between host and migrant communities.
Human rights are profoundly practical. Ensuring the full protection of human rights of migrants is not only about protecting individual migrants, although that must always be the primary imperative, but doing so will also provide a way to maximize the contribution of migration to development. The enjoyment of rights such as education, work, housing and health, together with the exercise of liberties such as freedom of expression, association and religion as well as access to justice and participation in public life, will enable all migrants to better integrate into the mainstream of the society to which they have migrated. It will also empower migrant women, who are often exposed to exploitation, discrimination and abuse while migrating and in the country of destination. In that sense, gender sensitive migration policies and programmes will ensure their better integration. The integration of migrants and social cohesion can reduce tensions within the receiving society and can help bring about the positive effects of migration in both countries of origin and destination. At the same time, protecting the rights of migrants will enable them to contribute more fully to development processes in their country of origin, including through being able to retain meaningful links with their families and communities.
The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICMW) offers States the most comprehensive framework for the protection of the human rights of migrants. It is one of the seven core UN human rights treaties, and provides concrete recognition of the various human rights challenges faced by migrant workers and members of their families. The Convention provides a set of fundamental rights, such as the right to life, protection against arbitrary detention and expulsion, and economic, social and cultural rights, most of which have been provided for in other more widely ratified treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) or International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The ICMW does not create new rights, but it does seek to locate and alleviate the specific challenges and vulnerabilities in which migrants often find themselves. It recognizes the benefits for migrants of being able to migrate through regular channels; Part VI of the Convention is devoted to promoting sound, equitable, humane and lawful conditions of migration, and looking to prevent and eliminate trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. The ICMW, which entered into force in 2003, has been ratified by 37 States to date, with three States having acceded to the Convention this year already.
Finally, we must be careful not to consider migrants only as agents of development. Migrants are human beings and, as such have the same fundamental rights as everyone else. Nor should development be seen only as economic growth but rather as human development, focusing on the individual, his and her family and community, and a process which seeks to expand individual capabilities and choices through inter alia health, education, a decent standard of living and political freedom.
The Migrant Workers Convention together with the ILO Conventions 97 and 143 provide the central elements of the legal framework to promote and maximize the positive benefits of migration and development in the world today. We believe that an appreciation of the practical value of these international instruments should lead to their universal ratification, and effective implementation.