Imagine a day when migrant workers and members of their families shall be free to leave any country, including their country of origin. Their right to life shall be protected by law. None of them shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. None of them shall be held in slavery or servitude. None shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.
This is the vision enshrined in the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 1990. Only 42 countries have ratified the Convention, none of which include a major host country for migrants.
The reality therefore is: Migrants drowning at sea after being turned away from shore. Children detained with adults and at risk of physical and sexual abuse. Workers cheated out of wages and confined to their workplace. Authorities extorting bribes. Governments denying health care benefits to those who might most need it.
In 2009 coming to a close, through field research and ongoing monitoring, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented human rights violations against migrant women, men, and children in every region of the world, publishing dozens of materials, including 14 reports.
Whether moving from the countryside to urban areas, or across oceans, deserts, and international borders, migration carries the potential for both great reward and great risk. For those who are lucky, migration can mean a better life, greater freedoms, more money, and reuniting with family.
But for others, restrictive and xenophobic immigration policies, inadequate labour protections, and barriers to justice mechanisms translate into human rights abuses with little hope of redress.
The United Nations estimates that by mid-2010 there will be approximately 214 million international migrants worldwide, and this number swells into hundreds of millions when internal migrants are included.
Migrant workers are often touted as modern-day heroes given the importance of their remittances to the economies of their home countries -- an estimated 444 billion USD in 2008. But migrants are also seen as threats -- unfairly blamed for crime or changes in demographics and culture.
Whether as heroes or criminals, government policies have typically failed to provide comprehensive protections to migrants, often discriminating on the basis of immigration status and national origin.
Against this backdrop, HRW has called on governments to ratify the Convention and make stronger commitments to migrants' rights in 2010 -- particularly as 2009 has been a "bad year" for migrants around the world,
This is because the policies of many governments toward migrants worldwide have made them victims of human rights abuses including labour exploitation, inadequate access to health care, and prolonged detention in poor, overcrowded conditions, Human Rights Watch said in advance of International Migrants Day, on Dec. 18.
HRW has compiled a 25-page roundup of violations of migrants' rights this year. Titled 'Slow Movement: Protection of Migrants' Rights in 2009', the document includes coverage of China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
Human Rights Watch showed how the United States deports large numbers of documented migrants for nonviolent offenses with serious consequences for family unity and fails to provide adequate health care to migrants in detention.
Ramesh Jaura
Chief Editor |
