This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2010) |
Signed | 18 December 1990 [1] |
---|---|
Location | New York |
Effective | 1 July 2003 [1] |
Condition | 20 ratifications [1] |
Signatories | 40 [1] |
Parties | 60 [1] |
Depositary | Secretary-General of the United Nations |
Languages | Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish |
The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families is a United Nations multilateral treaty governing the protection of migrant workers and families. Signed on 18 December 1990, it entered into force on 1 July 2003 after the threshold of 20 ratifying States was reached in March 2003. The Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) monitors implementation of the convention, and is one of the seven UN-linked human rights treaty bodies. The convention applies as of November 2024 in 60 countries. [1]
In his 9 November 2002 report on strengthening the organization, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote: "It is time to take a more comprehensive look at the various dimensions of the migration issue, which now involves hundreds of millions of people, and affects countries of origin, transit and destination. We need to understand better the causes of international flows of people and their complex interrelationship with development." [2]
The United Nations Convention constitutes a comprehensive international treaty regarding the protection of migrant workers' rights. It emphasizes the connection between migration and human rights, which is increasingly becoming a crucial policy topic worldwide. The Convention aims at protecting migrant workers and members of their families; its existence sets a moral standard, and serves as a guide and stimulus for the promotion of migrant rights in each country.
In the Preamble, the Convention recalls conventions by International Labour Organization on migrant workers: Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949, Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975, and on forced labour; Forced Labour Convention and Abolition of Forced Labour Convention as well as international human rights treaties including Convention against Discrimination in Education.
The primary objective of the Convention is to foster respect for migrants' human rights. Migrants are not only workers, they are also human beings. The Convention does not create new rights for migrants but aims at guaranteeing equality of treatment, and the same working conditions, including in case of temporary work, for migrants and nationals. The Convention innovates because it relies on the fundamental notion that all migrants should have access to a minimum degree of protection. The Convention recognizes that regular migrants have the legitimacy to claim more rights than irregular immigrants, but it stresses that irregular migrants must see their fundamental human rights respected, like all human beings.
In the meantime, the Convention proposes that actions be taken to eradicate clandestine movements, notably through the fight against misleading information inciting people to migrate irregularly, and through sanctions against traffickers and employers of undocumented migrants.
Article 7 of this Convention protects the rights of migrant workers and their families regardless of "sex, race, colour, language, religion or conviction, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, nationality, age, economic position, property, marital status, birth, or other status". [3] And Article 29 protects rights of child of migrant worker to name, to registration of birth and to a nationality.
This Convention is also recalled by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the Preamble. [4]
As of September 2023 countries that have ratified the Convention are primarily countries of origin of migrants (such as Mexico, Morocco, and the Philippines). For these countries, the Convention is an important vehicle to protect their citizens living abroad. In the Philippines, for example, ratification of the Convention took place in a context characterized by several cases of Filipino workers being mistreated abroad: such cases hurt the Filipino population and prompted the ratification of the Convention. However, these countries are also transit and destination countries, and the Convention delineates their responsibility to protect the rights of migrants in their territory, and they have done little to protect those at home. [5] [6]
No migrant-receiving state in Western Europe or North America has ratified the Convention. Other important receiving countries, such as Australia, Arab states of the Persian Gulf, India and South Africa have not ratified the Convention.
Legend | Population [a] | Per. |
---|---|---|
Parties | 1,809,852,000 | 23.22% |
Signatories | 83,145,000 | 1.07% |
Non-signatories | 5,901,802,000 | 75.71% |
State | Status | Signature | Deposit | Method | Population [a] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Albania | Party | 5 June 2007 | Accession | 2,878,000 | ||
Algeria | Party | 21 April 2005 | Accession | 43,851,000 | ||
Argentina | Party | 10 August 2004 | 23 February 2007 | Ratification | 45,196,000 | |
Armenia | Signatory | 26 September 2013 | 2,963,000 | |||
Azerbaijan | Party | 11 January 1999 | Accession | 10,139,000 | ||
Bangladesh | Party | 7 October 1998 | 24 August 2011 | Ratification | 164,689,000 | |
Belize | Party | 14 November 2001 | Accession | 398,000 | ||
Benin | Party | 15 September 2005 | 6 July 2018 | Ratification | 12,123,000 | |
Bolivia | Party | 16 October 2000 | Accession | 11,673,000 | ||
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Party | 13 December 1996 | Accession | 3,281,000 | ||
Burkina Faso | Party | 16 November 2001 | 26 November 2003 | Ratification | 20,903,000 | |
Cabo Verde | Party | 16 September 1997 | Accession | 556,000 | ||
Cambodia | Signatory | 27 September 2004 | 16,719,000 | |||
Cameroon | Signatory | 15 December 2009 | 26,546,000 | |||
Chad | Party | 26 September 2012 | 22 February 2022 | Ratification | 16,426,000 | |
Chile | Party | 24 September 1993 | 21 March 2005 | Ratification | 19,116,000 | |
Colombia | Party | 24 May 1995 | Accession | 50,883,000 | ||
Comoros | Signatory | 22 September 2000 | 870,000 | |||
Congo, Republic of the | Party | 29 September 2008 | 31 March 2017 | Ratification | 5,518,000 | |
Côte d'Ivoire | Party | 26 September 2023 | Accession | 29,344,847 | ||
Ecuador | Party | 5 February 2002 | Accession | 17,643,000 | ||
Egypt | Party | 19 February 1993 | Accession | 102,334,000 | ||
El Salvador | Party | 13 September 2002 | 14 March 2003 | Ratification | 6,486,000 | |
Fiji | Party | 19 August 2019 | Accession | 896,000 | ||
Gabon | Signatory | 15 December 2004 | 2,226,000 | |||
Gambia | Party | 20 September 2017 | 28 September 2018 | Ratification | 2,417,000 | |
Ghana | Party | 7 September 2000 | 7 September 2000 | Ratification | 31,073,000 | |
Guatemala | Party | 7 September 2000 | 14 March 2003 | Ratification | 17,916,000 | |
Guinea | Party | 7 September 2000 | Accession | 13,133,000 | ||
Guinea-Bissau | Party | 12 September 2000 | 22 October 2018 | Ratification | 1,968,000 | |
Guyana | Party | 15 September 2005 | 7 July 2010 | Ratification | 787,000 | |
Haiti | Signatory | 5 December 2013 | 11,403,000 | |||
Honduras | Party | 9 August 2005 | Accession | 9,905,000 | ||
Indonesia | Party | 22 September 2004 | 31 May 2012 | Ratification | 273,524,000 | |
Jamaica | Party | 25 September 2008 | 25 September 2008 | Ratification | 2,961,000 | |
Kyrgyzstan | Party | 29 September 2003 | Accession | 6,524,000 | ||
Lesotho | Party | 24 September 2004 | 16 September 2005 | Ratification | 2,142,000 | |
Liberia | Signatory | 22 September 2004 | 5,058,000 | |||
Libya | Party | 18 June 2004 | Accession | 6,871,000 | ||
Madagascar | Party | 24 September 2014 | 13 May 2015 | Ratification | 27,691,000 | |
Malawi | Party | 23 September 2022 | 23 September 2022 | Ratification | 19,130,000 | |
Mali | Party | 5 June 2003 | Accession | 20,251,000 | ||
Mauritania | Party | 22 January 2007 | Accession | 4,650,000 | ||
Mexico | Party | 22 May 1991 | 8 March 1999 | Ratification | 128,933,000 | |
Montenegro | Signatory | 23 October 2006 | 628,000 | |||
Morocco | Party | 15 August 1991 | 21 June 1993 | Ratification | 36,911,000 | |
Mozambique | Party | 15 March 2012 | 19 August 2013 | Ratification | 31,255,000 | |
Nicaragua | Party | 26 October 2005 | Accession | 6,625,000 | ||
Niger | Party | 18 March 2009 | Accession | 24,207,000 | ||
Nigeria | Party | 27 July 2009 | Accession | 206,140,000 | ||
Palau | Signatory | 20 September 2011 | 18,000 | |||
Paraguay | Party | 13 September 2000 | 23 September 2008 | Ratification | 7,133,000 | |
Peru | Party | 22 September 2004 | 14 September 2005 | Ratification | 32,972,000 | |
Philippines | Party | 15 November 1993 | 5 July 1995 | Ratification | 109,581,000 | |
Rwanda | Party | 15 December 2008 | Accession | 12,952,000 | ||
São Tomé and Príncipe | Party | 6 September 2000 | 10 January 2017 | Ratification | 219,000 | |
Senegal | Party | 9 June 1999 | Accession | 16,744,000 | ||
Serbia | Signatory | 11 November 2004 | 8,737,000 | |||
Seychelles | Party | 15 December 1994 | Accession | 98,000 | ||
Sierra Leone | Signatory | 15 September 2000 | 7,977,000 | |||
Sri Lanka | Party | 11 March 1996 | Accession | 21,413,000 | ||
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Party | 29 October 2010 | Accession | 111,000 | ||
Syria | Party | 2 June 2005 | Accession | 17,501,000 | ||
Tajikistan | Party | 7 September 2000 | 8 January 2002 | Ratification | 9,538,000 | |
Timor-Leste | Party | 30 January 2004 | Accession | 1,318,000 | ||
Togo | Party | 15 November 2001 | 16 December 2020 | Ratification | 8,279,000 | |
Turkey | Party | 13 January 1999 | 27 September 2004 | Ratification | 84,339,000 | |
Uganda | Party | 14 November 1995 | Accession | 45,741,000 | ||
Uruguay | Party | 15 February 2001 | Accession | 3,474,000 | ||
Venezuela | Party | 4 October 2011 | 25 October 2016 | Ratification | 28,436,000 |
In June/July 2022, at the Human Rights Council Fiftieth session, the Human Rights Council held an Intersessional panel discussion on the human rights of migrants in vulnerable situations that were previously stated under 35/17 and 47/12 resolutions. The High Commissioner pointed out concerns related to the criminalization of migration, gender-based violence, arbitrary detention, family separation, loss of lives, harmful and dehumanizing narratives, and pervasive discrimination owing to personal factors, including age, gender, or disability. The broader impact of COVID-19 was also highlighted. Statements were provided by panelists reiterating that all migrants, regardless of status, were entitled to all human rights. Concerns on situations of vulnerability that migrants encountered in transit and at borders and violence perpetrated against migrants, including by State and non-State actors were also referred. Calls were made for independent mechanisms to monitor human rights violations, increase attention to the human rights of migrants, the importance of international cooperation, and the need to translate these rights into adequate legal and regulatory provisions. Additional recommendations included the need for implementing comprehensive protection regimes to identify and address situations of vulnerability in the process of migration. Remarks were made on the need for the international community to understand the root causes of migration and the challenges associated with it, and the range of measures that are needed to respond adequately to those challenges. Annual panel discussions were suggested by the High Commissioner. [8] [9]
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the first and oldest specialized agencies of the UN. The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with around 40 field offices around the world, and employs some 3,381 staff across 107 nations, of whom 1,698 work in technical cooperation programmes and projects.
The Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. It is also referred to as the Smuggling Protocol. It is one of the three Palermo protocols, the others being the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition.
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children is a protocol to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. It is one of the three Palermo protocols, the others being the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and the Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms.
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is and sets out the rights of individuals who are granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum. The convention also sets out which people do not qualify as refugees, such as war criminals. The convention also provides for some visa-free travel for holders of refugee travel documents issued under the convention.
A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) is a human rights declaration adopted by consensus at the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993 in Vienna, Austria. The position of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was recommended by this Declaration and subsequently created by General Assembly Resolution 48/141.
Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 is an International Labour Organization Convention for migrant workers.
Migrant Workers Convention, 1975, or Convention concerning Migrations in Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and Treatment of Migrant Workers is an International Labour Organization Convention for the rights of migrant workers. However unlike the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, there are restrictions of migrant worker to be applied on Article 11.
Human rights in the Philippines are protected by the Constitution of the Philippines, to make sure that people in the Philippines are able to live peacefully and with dignity, safe from the abuse of any individuals or institutions, including the state.
Migrant domestic workers are any persons "moving to another country or region to better their material or social conditions and improve the prospect for themselves or their family," engaged in a work relationship performing "in or for a household or households."
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the convention are required to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy full equality under the law. The Convention serves as a major catalyst in the global disability rights movement enabling a shift from viewing persons with disabilities as objects of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing them as full and equal members of society, with human rights. The convention was the first U.N. human rights treaty of the twenty-first century.
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation.
On 18 December 1990, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
Child migration or "children in migration or mobility" is the movement of people ages 3–18 within or across political borders, with or without their parents or a legal guardian, to another country or region. They may travel with or without legal travel documents. They may arrive to the destination country as refugees, asylum seekers, or economic migrants.
Labour standards in the World Trade Organization are binding rules, which form a part of the jurisprudence and principles applied within the rule making institutions of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Labour standards play an implicit, but not an overt role within the WTO, however it forms a prominent issue facing the WTO today, and has generated a wealth of academic debate.
The United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) is a multi-stakeholder initiative providing global access to expertise, knowledge and innovative partnerships to combat human trafficking.
Children's rights in Malaysia have progressed since Malaysia acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1995 and introduced the Child Act in 2001.
Lebanon has gone through many stages in its absorption of migrant workers, both before and after the Lebanese Civil War. This development has led to multiple problems regarding integration in Lebanese society. The ambiguity of the Kafala system in Lebanon has resulted in migrant domestic workers facing many legal issues and violations to their basic human rights. The government has largely been inactive and ineffective in implementing laws to protect migrant domestic workers but has attempted to manage the situation but to little avail.
Migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council region involves the prevalence of migrant workers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Together, these six countries form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), established in 1981. The GCC cooperates on issues related to economy and politics, and the subject of migrant workers constitutes a substantial part of the council's collaboration. All of the GCC countries are dependent on migrant labor to bolster and stimulate economic growth and development, as the GCC countries possess an abundance of capital while the domestic labor capacity is low. Although migrant workers in the Persian Gulf region amount to no more than 10% of all migrants worldwide, they constitute a significant part of the populations of their host countries.
Human rights in the Dominican Republic constitute the civil and political rights and freedoms legally protected under the Constitution of the Dominican Republic and enforced by the government through common and statutory law. The majority of human rights disputes are presided over by the highest court of constitutional appeal, the Dominican Constitutional Tribunal. These rights and freedoms have developed over time in accordance with the Dominican Republic's expansion from the former Spanish colony of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo to its modern state formation. The history of human rights in the state have also been marked by the oscillation between democratic administrations, such as the current presidency of Danilo Medina, and authoritarian administrations, most significantly the dictatorial regime of Rafael Trujillo between 16 August 1930 and 16 August 1938. As a member of the Organization of American States and the United Nations, the Dominican Republic is party to myriad legal treaties and covenants which propagate the human rights standards of the international community and have integrated the majority of these human rights directives into their domestic legislation.