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The most vulnerable

A common concern among the international community is to what extent the human rights of migrants in general and the most vulnerable in particular are protected. Women, trafficked persons and people in irregular situations are the migrant groups most likely to face human rights violations.

Women

As already noted in the fact sheet on Migration and Development, women are more likely to face difficulties like deprivation, hardship, discrimination and physical, sexual and verbal abuse when traveling as migrants. They are also more likely to be exploited and become victims of human trafficking.

Once they arrive in the destination country, female migrants may face more marginalization and have a harder time integrating and entering the labour market. Generally, they may have less access to employment, social security and health programmes compared to male migrants. Women are also more vulnerable if their legal residence is tied to their relationship with a citizen. (Millenium Development Goals & Migration Report, 2005)

Irregular workers

According to the ILO (International Organization on Migration), 10-15% of all migrants today are irregular workers. Irregular situations can be created at various points - departure, transit, entry and return - and may be committed against the migrant or by the migrant. Irregular migration occurs in developed regions - like Europe and North America but also in developing regions - like many parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is especially common in Asia where there are several million irregular migrants: mostly Nepalese and Bangladeshis in India, Afghans in Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Indonesians and Filipinos in Malaysia, and Burmese in Thailand.

Trafficked persons

According to the ILO, the fact that there are so many irregular workers worldwide indicates that the demand is greater than the supply of migrant workers. So workers keep coming through irregular means. Irregular migration leads to high levels of exploitation, forced labour, and abuse of human rights. For example, if they have to travel long distances, irregular migrants often pay for smugglers who might hide them in trucks or ships, supply false documents, or bribe immigration officials. Smugglers can charge US$200-300 to get migrants across a land border, or some US$30,000 to transport them from East Asia to North America or to Europe. (ILO Conference paper: Towards a fair deal for migrant workers in the global economy, 2005)

Migrant rights are human rights

In recognition of the actual and potential of discrimination that migrants face, the United Nations has a number of conventions and instruments intended to protect the rights of migrants internationally.

The most important are:

• 1949 Migration for Employment Convention (No. 97), International Labour Organization (ILO)

• 1975 Migrant Workers Convetion (Supplementary Provisions) (No. 143), ILO

• 1990, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (Entered into force in 2003)

• 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Programme of Action (PoA), Cairo, Chapter X: International Migration: Governments including Canada, agreed to adopt migration policies and programmes

• 2000 Palermo Protocols on Human Trafficking and Smuggling: Governments agreed on two protocols that set standards to address trafficking and smuggling

Source: Right On, No. 3, Vol. 3, Fall 2006, published by Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD)

What is an International Convention?

International Conventions set up a framework for international cooperation on common issues. States who sign and ratify the conventions are agreeing to their principles and to their implementation. Conventions only become international law when they are signed and ratified by enough states; more precisely, when the legislative branch of a government incorporates the Convention into its national laws. However, there is much debate about the usefulness of international conventions -- sometimes countries targeted by conventions refuse to sign them and even those who do, don't necessarily respect them in practice. A main point of debate is to what extent international conventions interfere with national policies. But in fact, international conventions are not intended to replace national policies but rather to complement or provide guidelines for framing national policies.

In relation to migration, the following convention is considered to be the most important instrument on the rights of migrants. It took thirteen years for it to become international law.

The United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (MWC)

• This is a comprehensive international treaty to protect migrant workers' rights; a particularly vulnerable group because they are non-citizens.

• It emphasizes the connection between migration and human rights.

• The Convention does not create new rights for migrants but aims at guaranteeing equality of treatment and the same working conditions for migrants and nationals.

• Article (1) stresses that this Convention applies to all migrants irrespective of their status.

• It was adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1990.

• It came into force 13 years later, on July 1st, 2003, after being ratified by 20 signatory countries.

• As of 2007, 37 states have ratified the Convention.

• There are campaigns to ratify the Convention in several countries.

For more information, see:

• The Handout: Fact Sheet on the UN Convention for Migrant Worker's and their Families

• The Student Handout: Myths and Reality about the Obstacles to Ratification

• The full text of the Convention

• The UN Resolution on the Convention

Canada's role: Migrant rights and international development

Canada is one of the Group of Eight (G8), an international forum for the governments of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, German, Japan, and Russia. Together, these countries represent 65% of the world economy. Canada is also a traditional migrant-receiving country. As such it has a role to play in migration and development through its national immigration policies and international development policies.

On the national front, Canada's immigration policy has greatly evolved over the last forty years:

• From a policy where selection was based on national origin to a policy based on a point system favouring economic contribution but also considering humanitarian concerns.

• Canada has tended to favour permanent migration versus temporary migration. However, there have always been both categories of migrants in Canada, and in recent years, Canada has been receiving more temporary migrants.

• The human rights of permanent migrants are protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, some national policies and international instruments that Canada has signed.

• Temporary workers have some protection but there is a debate as to whether temporary workers have enough protection compared to Canadian citizens.

In terms of its international development policies, Canada has always played an important role:

• It has signed a number of international human rights instruments (eg. the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination).

• Through the Canadian International Development Agency, Canada supports international development initiatives that promote poverty reduction through focusing on providing basic human needs (water, health, food security) to people in the developing world.

• As a G8 member, Canada has an important role to play in international arenas such as the World Trade Organization. Depending on the position Canada takes in negotiating international trade agreements under the WTO, Canada has the opportunity to promote a fair global trading system.

• Canada has an active civil society community (NGOs, activists, community groups, etc.) that support the human rights of migrants and international development projects and policies.

What can be done?

A number of things can be done to protect the human rights of migrant workers while encouraging international development - governments, organizations and individuals all have a role to play:

A fair global trading system

According to the AFSC, putting in place a fair global trading system that does not lead to forced migration would have the following features:

• Coherence between trade and migration policy (mobility of goods and people).

• An immigration system that is fair and human and upholds the human rights of migrants and their families as well as facilitates the integration of migrants into society.

• Treat migrant workers as human beings and not commodities (labour inputs) for economic gain

• Enable people to decide for themselves if they want to migrate (rather than be forced to migrate)

The Decent Work Agenda

In recognition of the emergence of international labour migration as an important global phenomenon, the ILO is paying greater attention to this area. Making the links between migration and development, the ILO proposes a series of objectives under the concept "A Decent Work Agenda".

Decent Work is a development strategy that acknowledges the central role of work in people's lives: work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom to express concerns, opportunity to organize and participate in decision-making, and equal opportunity and treatment for all women and men. Decent work belongs at the heart of global, national and local strategies for economic and social progress. It is central to efforts to reduce poverty, and is a means for achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable development.

Putting the Decent Work Agenda into practice is achieved through the implementation of its four strategic objectives with gender equality as a crosscutting objective:

• Creating Jobs - an economy that generates opportunities for investment, entrepreneurship, job creation and sustainable livelihoods;

• Guaranteeing rights at work - obtain recognition and respect for the rights of workers. All workers, and in particular disadvantaged or poor workers need representation, participation, and good laws that are enforced and work for, not against, their interests;

• Providing basic social protection - marginalization and poverty mean that those most in need do not have minimum protection against low or declining standards of living; and

• Promoting dialogue and conflict resolution - people in poverty understand the need to negotiate and know dialogue is the way to solve problems peacefully. Social dialogue, involving strong and independent worker's and employers' organizations, is central to increasing productivity and avoiding disputes at work, and to building cohesive societies.

Source: ILO Facts on Labour Migration

Migrant rights are human rights

• Recognizing that migrant rights are human rights, countries can ensure that rights are respected not just on paper but in practice.

• This implies developing fair national migration policies and signing international instruments such as the Migrant Convention to Protect Workers and their Families, as well as helping to establish fair international cooperation policies on migration. It also implies setting up a system for monitoring and implementing policies and including avenues for redress when rights have not been respected.

Get involved as an advocate

• GET INVOLVED in one of the organizations listed in the resources section

• VOLUNTEER with the Canadian Council for Refugees or a CCR member organization in your area. To find out more about volunteering, contact Colleen French in Montreal at cfrench@ccrweb.ca.

• ORGANIZE a migrant rights committee at school and do awareness-raising activities (could be part of an existing social justice committee)

• PRODUCE a weekly radio podcast

• Set up a letter-writing CAMPAIGN for Canada to ratify the Migrant Rights Convention

• Treat your neighbours and classmates with RESPECT

Sources

• ILO (International Labour Organization) Facts on labour migration (2006)

• ILO (International Labour Organization) Conference paper: Towards a fair deal for migrant workers in the global economy (2005)

• Report: The Millenium Development Goals and Migration (2005), IOM (International Organization on Migration) Migration Research Series

• Report: Trade and Development (2005), UN Millenium Project Task Force on Trade

• Report: International Migration, Health and Human Rights (2003), World Health Organization (WHO), Health & Human Rights Publication Series, Issue #4, December 2003

• Human rights of migrants: Challenges of the new decade (2000), International Migration Quarterly Review, Vol. 38, No. 6, Special Issue 2, 2000