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COVER
STORY
By Fr. Paul Marquez, SSP
Comprehensive UN Treaty on Migrants’ rights
The International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families is the most comprehensive international
treaty dealing with the rights of migrant workers and the
latest of the seven so-called core international human rights
conventions, which together form the United Nations human
rights treaty system.
The drafting of the Convention began in 1980, after
the United Nations General Assembly established an Openended
Working Group to draft an international instrument
for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant
workers. Membership of the Working Group was open to all
UN member States and it benefited the cooperation of the
UN Commission on Human Rights, the UN Commission for
Social Development, ILO, UNESCO and WHO. The Working
Group met annually during General Assembly sessions
and after ten years of negotiations produced the text of the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of
All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The
Convention was adopted without a vote and opened for
signature pursuant to General Assembly resolution 45/158,
on 18 December 1990.
The Convention does not stand in isolation but on the
one hand complements internationally recognized labor
standards and on the other hand specifies the application
of generally recognized human rights standards to migrant
workers and their families. The Convention protects the human
rights of migrant workers at all stages of the migration
process, in the country of origin, the country of transit and
the country of employment, by imposing ensuing obligations
on States parties.
UPHOLDI
RIGH
OF MIG
WORK
International Migration Convention entered into force
On July 1, 2003, the International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members
of their Families entered into force, when the threshold of 20
ratifying states was reached in March 2003 after the states of
El Salvador and Guatemala had ratified the Convention.
Twenty-two states have ratified the Convention on Migrants’
Rights in the following years: Egypt, Morocco (1993),
Seychelles (1994), Colombia, Philippines, Uganda (1995), Sri
Lanka, Senegal, Bosnia & Herzegovina (1996), Cape Verde
(1997), Azerbaijan, Mexico (1999), Ghana, Guinea, Bolivia
(2000), Uruguay, Belize (2001), Tajikistan, Ecuador (2002)
and El Salvador, Guatemala, (2003) Mali (acceded).
The ratification of the Convention by a state means that
the legislative or law-making branch of its government has
adopted the Convention and promised to incorporate it into
its national laws. From 1 July 2003, these countries (included
in the list above) will be legally bound by the Convention.
Moreover, the application of the Convention will be
monitored by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of
All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW).
Ten experts will be recognized as impartial authorities in
the field by the Convention and will be elected by the states
that have ratified the Convention (article 72). It held its first
session in March 2004.
At its second session, held from 25 to 29 April 2005 in
Geneva, the Committee discussed its working methods in
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IMPACT • February 2010