Migrant Workers Convention

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International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
Migrant Workers Convention parties and signatories map.svg
States parties and signatories to the treaty:
  Parties
  Signatories
Signed18 December 1990 [1]
LocationNew York
Effective1 July 2003 [1]
Condition20 ratifications [1]
Signatories40 [1]
Parties59 [1]
Depositary Secretary-General of the United Nations
LanguagesArabic, 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 September 2023 in 59 countries. [1]

Contents

Context

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]

Overview

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]

Parties and signatories

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.

Parties
Signatories
Non-signatories






World population covered by the treaty [1] [lower-alpha 1]
LegendPopulation [lower-alpha 1] Per.
  Parties
1,809,852,000
  Signatories
83,145,000
  Non-signatories
5,901,802,000
Parties and signatories [1]
StateStatusSignatureDepositMethodPopulation [lower-alpha 1]
Flag of Albania.svg  Albania Party5 June 2007Accession2,878,000
Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria Party21 April 2005Accession43,851,000
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina Party10 August 200423 February 2007Ratification45,196,000
Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia Signatory26 September 20132,963,000
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan Party11 January 1999Accession10,139,000
Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh Party7 October 199824 August 2011Ratification164,689,000
Flag of Belize.svg  Belize Party14 November 2001Accession398,000
Flag of Benin.svg  Benin Party15 September 20056 July 2018Ratification12,123,000
Flag of Bolivia.svg  Bolivia Party16 October 2000Accession11,673,000
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg  Bosnia and Herzegovina Party13 December 1996Accession3,281,000
Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso Party16 November 200126 November 2003Ratification20,903,000
Flag of Cape Verde.svg  Cabo Verde Party16 September 1997Accession556,000
Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia Signatory27 September 200416,719,000
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon Signatory15 December 200926,546,000
Flag of Chad.svg  Chad Party26 September 201222 February 2022Ratification16,426,000
Flag of Chile.svg  Chile Party24 September 199321 March 2005Ratification19,116,000
Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia Party24 May 1995Accession50,883,000
Flag of the Comoros.svg  Comoros Signatory22 September 2000870,000
Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg  Congo, Republic of the Party29 September 200831 March 2017Ratification5,518,000
Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Côte d'Ivoire Party26 September 2023Accession29,344,847
Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador Party5 February 2002Accession17,643,000
Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt Party19 February 1993Accession102,334,000
Flag of El Salvador.svg  El Salvador Party13 September 200214 March 2003Ratification6,486,000
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji Party19 August 2019Accession896,000
Flag of Gabon.svg  Gabon Signatory15 December 20042,226,000
Flag of The Gambia.svg  Gambia Party20 September 201728 September 2018Ratification2,417,000
Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana Party7 September 20007 September 2000Ratification31,073,000
Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala Party7 September 200014 March 2003Ratification17,916,000
Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea Party7 September 2000Accession13,133,000
Flag of Guinea-Bissau.svg  Guinea-Bissau Party12 September 200022 October 2018Ratification1,968,000
Flag of Guyana.svg  Guyana Party15 September 20057 July 2010Ratification787,000
Flag of Haiti.svg  Haiti Signatory5 December 201311,403,000
Flag of Honduras.svg  Honduras Party9 August 2005Accession9,905,000
Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia Party22 September 200431 May 2012Ratification273,524,000
Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica Party25 September 200825 September 2008Ratification2,961,000
Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg  Kyrgyzstan Party29 September 2003Accession6,524,000
Flag of Lesotho.svg  Lesotho Party24 September 200416 September 2005Ratification2,142,000
Flag of Liberia.svg  Liberia Signatory22 September 20045,058,000
Flag of Libya.svg  Libya Party18 June 2004Accession6,871,000
Flag of Madagascar.svg  Madagascar Party24 September 201413 May 2015Ratification27,691,000
Flag of Malawi.svg  Malawi Party23 September 202223 September 2022Ratification19,130,000
Flag of Mali.svg  Mali Party5 June 2003Accession20,251,000
Flag of Mauritania.svg  Mauritania Party22 January 2007Accession4,650,000
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico Party22 May 19918 March 1999Ratification128,933,000
Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro Signatory23 October 2006628,000
Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco Party15 August 199121 June 1993Ratification36,911,000
Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique Party15 March 201219 August 2013Ratification31,255,000
Flag of Nicaragua.svg  Nicaragua Party26 October 2005Accession6,625,000
Flag of Niger.svg  Niger Party18 March 2009Accession24,207,000
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria Party27 July 2009Accession206,140,000
Flag of Palau.svg  Palau Signatory20 September 201118,000
Flag of Paraguay.svg  Paraguay Party13 September 200023 September 2008Ratification7,133,000
Flag of Peru.svg  Peru Party22 September 200414 September 2005Ratification32,972,000
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines Party15 November 19935 July 1995Ratification109,581,000
Flag of Rwanda.svg  Rwanda Party15 December 2008Accession12,952,000
Flag of Sao Tome and Principe.svg  São Tomé and Príncipe Party6 September 200010 January 2017Ratification219,000
Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal Party9 June 1999Accession16,744,000
Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia Signatory11 November 20048,737,000
Flag of Seychelles.svg  Seychelles Party15 December 1994Accession98,000
Flag of Sierra Leone.svg  Sierra Leone Signatory15 September 20007,977,000
Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka Party11 March 1996Accession21,413,000
Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.svg  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Party29 October 2010Accession111,000
Flag of Syria.svg  Syria Party2 June 2005Accession17,501,000
Flag of Tajikistan.svg  Tajikistan Party7 September 20008 January 2002Ratification9,538,000
Flag of East Timor.svg  Timor-Leste Party30 January 2004Accession1,318,000
Flag of Togo (3-2).svg  Togo Party15 November 200116 December 2020Ratification8,279,000
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey Party13 January 199927 September 2004Ratification84,339,000
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda Party14 November 1995Accession45,741,000
Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay Party15 February 2001Accession3,474,000
Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela Party4 October 201125 October 2016Ratification28,436,000

Intersessional panel discussion

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]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Population figures are 2020 mid-year medium-variant projections from the United Nations World Population Prospects 2019. [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "13. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. New York, 18 December 1990". UN Treaty base. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  2. "United Nations Maintenance Page". UN. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  3. Kinnear, Karen L. (2011). Women in Developing Countries: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 184. ISBN   9781598844252.
  4. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Preamble,(d)
  5. Palmer, Wayne; Missbach, Antje (4 May 2019). "Enforcing labour rights of irregular migrants in Indonesia". Third World Quarterly. 40 (5): 908–925. doi: 10.1080/01436597.2018.1522586 . ISSN   0143-6597.
  6. Palmer, Wayne (2018). "Back Pay for Trafficked Migrant Workers: An Indonesian Case Study". International Migration. 56 (2): 56–67. doi:10.1111/imig.12376.
  7. "World Population Prospects 2019: Volume I: Comprehensive Tables" (PDF). United Nations. 2019. pp. 23–32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  8. "Intersessional panel discussion on the human rights of migrants in vulnerable situations, 21 February 2022". United Nations. 21 February 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  9. Human Rights Council (21 February 2022). Summary of the intersessional panel discussion on the human rights of migrants in vulnerable situations; Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Report). United Nations. A/HRC/50/52. Retrieved 2 October 2022.