Viewpoints and Advocacy

Themes and Issues

A Snapshot of ICMC's Migrant Workers Activity 2006- April 2007

The International Catholic Migration Commission works internationally, regionally and in 40 countries around the world with refugees, migrants, people who have been trafficked, and internally displaced people, with special attention to the most vulnerable among them. ICMC has an explicit mandate to work for the rights of migrants and their families, and has done so for more than 50 years directly and through its network of 172 members worldwide. In line with that mandate and with the special importance that Catholic social teaching gives to labor, ICMC has devoted a large amount of its operations, policy and advocacy work in recent years specifically to helping migrant workers and members of their families.

Examples of some of ICMC's work specifically for migrant workers and their families this past year alone:

• Ongoing operations in counter-trafficking and rescue; return and reintegration programs for victims of trafficking and other migrants; income generation, livelihood and community building; psycho-social counselling for victims of torture and trauma, and services for extremely vulnerable individuals. In the Asia region, a number of these programs are based in Indonesia, Pakistan and Timor Leste. Moreover, in Indonesia, ICMC has worked quite effectively with the government and Parliament on developing the nation's anti-trafficking law. ICMC also partners with the American Center for International Labor Solidarity there on capacity-building of national and local NGOs. In the Middle East, ICMC continues its support of the rights and, in some cases, the rescue of domestic workers, a majority of whom are from the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Finally, ICMC participated with its members on recent fact-finding visits to refugees in Malaysia, Thailand, India and Nepal, and related follow-up.
  
  
• ICMC was one of only 5 NGOs chosen worldwide to speak at the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, held by the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2006. In his presentation to the roundtable on human rights and migration, John Bingham, Head of Policy at ICMC, stated that "this is the moment to reorient political and public mentalities, to take the rights-based approach from chaos to coherence. It is time to bring the rights of migrants into line with the 7 UN human rights treaties and the ILO Conventions." As a major emphasis of its experience and its advocacy, ICMC further underlined that "these rights are practical. They solve problems. Respect of human rights maximizes the contribution of migrants to development." ICMC promotes this perspective in all fora.
  
  
• ICMC accelerated its work with institutions and processes created to protect migrant rights. For example, ICMC continued to promote, directly as well as in several international coalitions, greater ratification and implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. ICMC worked with ICMC members in North, Central and South America and North Africa on testimony to the UN Migrant Workers Committee about the situation of migrants in Mexico and Egypt, and with the Geneva representative of the Philippines regarding the preparation of their upcoming report to that Committee. Separately, ICMC worked with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, providing input for example on his recent visits and report regarding the experience of migrants in South Korea and Indonesia. Members and field operations of ICMC also contributed to the development of a number of NGO statements presented to the UNHCR Executive and Standing Committees in March and September, including in particular concerns about the treatment of migrants in transit.
  
  
• ICMC published When They Were Sold, a book on trafficking in Indonesia and, at popular demand, an update and two printings of a well-acclaimed Do-it-yourself Toolkit on strengthening the rights of migrants and their families under all 7 of the UN human rights conventions.