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Viewpoints and Advocacy
Themes and Issues |
Rights, Migration and Development: Bridging
the Gap
A Statement by the International Catholic Migration
Committee at a meeting among States, Civil Society and the Steering
Committee of the Global Campaign for Ratification of the International
Convention on Migrant Workers - December 4, 2006 Geneva
There is a lot of talk about climate change these days.
There are two types of climate change: the bad kind that causes
all kinds of worries, and another good kind.
Let's consider the climate change this past year regarding migration
and migrants.
Just about a year ago, the Global Commission on International
Migration published its well-acclaimed report urging States and
the international community to recognize-and benefit from-the
positives of migration today.
6 months ago, some 60 representatives of civil society met in
an interactive hearing with over 90 states at the UN in NY to
discuss migration and development together. UN officials said
that they had never had so many States participate in such a hearing.
Less than 3 months ago, the UN brought the entire international
community together to discuss migration for the first time ever
at a High Level Dialogue.
That's climate change.
And the principal focus of the discussion was on the positives
of migration. That interstate discussion was so promising that
the international community decided to create a permanent global
forum to meet each year.
That's enormous-and good-climate
change.
Now one of the first signs of climate change is a lot of unusual
wind. And as the wind and words swirl around migration and development,
States seem to be looking for three things
in particular:
The first is: what is it that
connects migration and development?
Is there a logic, a standard that links and promotes them
both?
An increasing number of States, as well as international organizations,
have observed that the one thing that truly links migration and
development, the one thing that "bridges the gap" is
a respect for the basic rights of migrants.
But States are equally correct in demanding a full
framework: because it is not enough to talk about migrant
rights without also talking about migrant obligations.
They go together: both are essential.
That immediately takes us to the
second thing that States are looking for: which rights
and obligations? If international migration by definition
involves more than one country, and often several, then international
standards are needed for the basic rights and obligations
of migrants.
And here they are: the
standards are in the Migrant Workers Convention; standards
which apply to migrants of all kinds and the members of their
families. 34 countries have ratified the Convention to date-which
for the record is an increase of 50% in just the past 3 years
and well ahead of the pace for most other migrant conventions
over the years.
Now consider that those 34 ratifications were even before
the climate change of this past year. Before
the strong wind that has begun to blow.
In fact, just as it's a new day
for migration and development, it's a new day for the Migrant
Workers Convention. So in the same spirit as moving beyond
the overly negative views of migration, States might this year
take a new look at the Convention, and see its positives
too, and how reasonable it really is. For example:
- The Convention talks of obligations as well as rights! The
Convention is explicit that migrants have the obligation "to
comply with the laws and regulations of any State of transit
and the State of employment"
as well as "the obligation to respect the cultural
identity of the inhabitants of such States." (Article
34.)
- Nearly all of the rights listed in the Convention are drawn
from other treaties that most States have already ratified.
The Convention merely collects them in one place, adding only
a few, largely uncontroversial rights, like the return of bodies
of deceased migrants.
- Contrary to many myths, the Convention contains reasonable
limits on a number of the rights it describes. In at least
two dozen sections, the Convention
says that the national laws decide the extent of certain
rights-including Social Security. Moreover, many of the rights
are limited to documented migrants only.
- The Convention devotes 3 full Articles to the fight against
irregular migration, human trafficking, and smuggling, and several
other Articles to reducing abuses of workers and national laws
by employers and recruitment agencies.
And that brings us to the third
thing that States have been looking for in the migration
and development debate: best practices for integration.
The Migrant Workers Convention is nothing less than a formula
for social cohesion.
Our experience working with 172 members worldwide is that these
rights and obligations are quite practical:
they help States solve problems. We agree with the Convention,
the Global Commission, the UN Secretary General and the Council
of Europe that greater respect for migrant rights reduces forced
and irregular migration, and increases integration and social
cohesion.
In short, these rights and obligations work because they greatly
reflect the profound dignity of the human being, the dignity of
his or her labor, and the dignity of families and societies everywhere.
As the world takes its new approach to global migration, it is
indeed a new day. It's time for
a fresh look at the Migrant Workers Convention-and a new push
for more ratifications.
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