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Distr. GENERAL E/CN.4/2006/73 30 December 2005 Original: ENGLISH |
Economic and Social Council
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixty-second session
Item 14 (a) of the provisional agenda
SPECIFIC GROUPS AND
INDIVIDUALS
MIGRANT
WORKERS
Report of the
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants,
Jorge
Bustamante
Summary
This report is submitted
pursuant to Commission resolution 2005/47. It is the first report submitted to
the Commission by Jorge Bustamante since his appointment as Special Rapporteur
on the human rights of migrants in July 2005.
The report is divided into
three sections. They present the activities undertaken by the Special
Rapporteur, a description of the mandate, the main situations requiring his
attention, and a programme of work.
The Special Rapporteur
intends to carry out his work within the framework of international human rights
instruments, and considers the International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families a major instrument
for the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrants. Other
international instruments, including those of the International Labour
Organization, are also relevant.
The Special Rapporteur will
continue to develop the activities undertaken by his predecessor and by other
special procedures mandate holders by sending communications, carrying out
country visits and undertaking thematic studies. He also wishes to establish and
consolidate methods of follow-up to his activities. Dialogue, consultations and
networking with all stakeholders will be an essential feature of his
work.
Over the years, the mandate
of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants intervened in a number
of different situations involving the violation of the human rights of migrants.
These are examined individually in the report.
The Special Rapporteur also
refers to the fact that reluctance to recognize the demand for the labour of
migrant workers, which is a common factor among host countries, acquires
heuristic importance when it becomes clear that there is some relationship
between that reluctance and the appearance of anti-immigrant ideologies often
tinged with xenophobia and racism. Denial of demand is an important issue as it
is one of the main factors that leads to irregular migration, a situation at the
core of much of the abuse and numerous human rights violations suffered by
migrants.
Abuse and human rights
violations also occur in the context of legal migration, often in the situations
of temporary migration. The practice of subcontracting migrant labour can also
be a gateway for the impunity for abuse of and violations against migrant
workers. The action of private recruitment agencies, such as the charging of
large fees and placing migrants in employments where they are subjected to
abusive or hazardous working conditions, has often been the subject of
complaints and is a question that deserves closer
consideration.