The International Legal Framework: Multilateral Cooperation and its Opportunities

1. The International Legal Framework: Multilateral Cooperation and its Opportunities Panel discussion on the occasion of the International Migrants Day 17 December 2010, New York

2. Labour migration trends and characteristics UNDESA, 2009

3. Labour migration trends and characteristics (cont.) UNDESA, 2009

4. International legal framework • International human rights law • ILO international labour standards • UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers 1990 • N.B. This instrument is also one of the core human rights treaties

5. Convention on Migrant Workers 1990 General features • Comprehensive instrument applicable to the whole migration process and regulating the legal status of migrant workers and their families • Protects the basic rights of all migrant workers and their families (lawfully resident and irregular migrants) on the basis of equality with nationals (Part III) • Grants regular migrants a number of additional rights on the basis of equality with nationals (Part IV)

6. Convention structure • Part I – Scope and definitions • Part II – Non-discrimination with respect to rights • Part III – Human rights of all migrant workers • Part IV – Other rights of regular migrants • Part V – Rights of particular categories of migrant workers • Part VI – State cooperation/ obligations in promoting sound, equitable, humane and lawful migration conditions • Part VII – Application of Convention • Part VIII – General Provisions • Part IX – Final Provisions

7. Inter-state cooperation (Part VI) • Obligations upon States to • consult and cooperate to promote sound, equitable and humane migration conditions - Art 64(1) • collaborate to prevent and eliminate irregular migration - Art 68 • punish traffickers, smugglers and those who exploit migrant workers (e.g. employers) - Art 68(1)-(2) • see also Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols to International Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2000

8. The ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers is an important step towards the establishment of national institutional mechanisms to ensure the protection of the rights of migrant workers and their families. An effective protection of migrant workers and members of their families should start before the Convention and must extend even beyond the Convention. Inter-State cooperation is also crucial both to enhance the sustainable development of the country of origin and the country of employment of migrant workers, and to enable states to ensure respect of the rights enshrined in the Convention and in the other international migration law instruments. Way Forward

9. Website www.migrantsrights.org Global Ratification Campaign 20th Anniversary

10. Conclusions « Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. » Eleanor Roosevelt

11. Thank you! International Migration Law Unit (IML@iom.int)