IACHR
Press Release
For the UN International Migrants Day Tuesday 18 December 2012
Joint Statement by UN Experts, the IACHR Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants and the ACHPR Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced Persons and Migrants
“Migrants deserve full recognition as rights holders”
GENEVA, BANJUL, WASHINGTON D.C. (18 December 2012) – “On a day like today, we unite our voices to recognize the invaluable contributions that millions of migrants across the world make daily to create better living conditions for everyone. Even though participating in our societies, the other side of the story is that simply for being migrants, millions are victims of discrimination, xenophobia and a myriad of violations against their human rights. It is because of this that today, on International Migrants Day, we reaffirm that human rights are rights for all persons. In this sense, a real commitment by States regarding the human rights of migrants requires the full recognition of migrants as rights holders. Human rights are derived from human dignity and not from national origin or migratory status.
In the current context, we reiterate our concern regarding the tendency of some States to criminalize irregular migration. Crossing a border without the required documentation or overstaying a visa is not per se a crime, but rather at most, an administrative offence. Measures that criminalize irregular migration include the enactment of laws that penalize migrants in an irregular situation and persons that assist migrants; the use of excessive and disproportionate force during migration control operations; the detention of migrants in an irregular situation; deportations without procedural guarantees; and also xenophobic statements in which authorities and the media encourage the stigmatization of migrants. In addition to being contrary to human rights and increasing the vulnerability of migrants, these measures have not been proven effective in deterring irregular migration.
In this sense, we express our deep concern for the increasing use of detention of migrants by some States. This situation is of even greater concern because detention is often applied to children. Respect for the right to liberty and security of person implies that liberty is the rule and detention, the exception. States have the obligation to establish a presumption in favor of liberty in domestic law. The automatic, mandatory or punitive use of migrant detention not only violates migrants' right to liberty, but also affects others of their human rights. The exceptionality of administrative detention of migrants also applies to asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons and other persons in need of international protection. We call on States to gradually abolish the administrative detention of migrants and establish alternative measures to detention, applying a human rights based approach.
By celebrating International Migrants Day, we reaffirm that the protection of the human rights of migrants requires the adoption of various measures by States. In this context, we call on States to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, as well as other international and regional human rights treaties. In parallel to ratifying these instruments, States should guarantee that their policies, laws and practices on migration conform to their international human rights obligations.”
This joint statement has been subscribed on December 18, 2012, on International Migrants Day by Mr. François Crépeau, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants; Mr. Abdelhamid El Jamri, Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW); Mr. Felipe Gonzalez, Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS); Ms. Maya Sahli Fadel, Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) of the African Union (AU).
François Crépeau (Canada) was appointed Special Rapporteur on the
human rights of migrants in June 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council, for an
initial period of three years. As Special Rapporteur, he is independent from
any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity. Mr.
Crépeau is also Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of McGill University,
in Montréal, where he holds the Hans and Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public
International Law.
Log on to:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Migration/SRMigrants/Pages/SRMigrantsIndex.aspx
For more information regarding the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of
migrants, please contact: Christel Mobech (+41 22 917 9995 /
cmobech@ohchr.org) or write to
migrant@ohchr.org.
Abdelhamid El Jamri (Morocco) was elected as member of the Committee
on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families in 2004 and is Chairperson of the Committee since 2008. As a treaty
body expert, he is independent from any government or organization and
serves in his individual capacity. Mr. El Jamri is also an international
consultant on development project design and an international migration
specialist. He is the Director of the French ‘Institut Supérieur de
Formation et de Développement’ and a member of the Economic and Social
Council of Morocco.
Visit:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cmw/index.htm
Check the International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of their Families:http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cmw.htm
For more information regarding the United Nations Committee on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families, please contact: Harumi Fuentes (+41 22 917 9699 /
hfuentes@ohchr.org) or write to
cmw@ohchr.org.
Felipe González (Chile) was elected as commissioner of the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2008 and reelected in 2011. Since 2008
he is the Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants. He was the IACHR Chair in
2010. Commissioner González is Professor of International Human Rights Law
and Constitutional Law at Chile’s Diego Portales University. He founded and
directed that university’s Human Rights Center. He also founded and
coordinated a Latin American Network of Legal Human Rights Clinics. He is a
Professor at the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American
University and a Visiting Professor at Carlos III University. Previously he
has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Lund
University, the University of Deusto, and the University of Alcalá de
Henares. He also worked for the International Human Rights Law Group (now
Global Rights), first in Washington, D.C., and then in Santiago, Chile.
Visit:
http://www.cidh.org/migrantes/defaultmigrants.htm
For more information regarding the IACHR Rapporteurship on the rights of
migrants, please contact:Alvaro Botero Navarro (+1 202 458 3831 /
abotero@oas.org) or write to
cidhmigrantes@oas.org.
Maya Sahli Fadel (Algeria) was elected as commissioner of the African
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) of the African Union (AU) in
2011. She was appointed as Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers,
Internally Displaced Persons and Migrants in 2011.
Visit:
http://www.achpr.org/mechanisms/refugees-and-internally-displaced-persons/
For more information on the ACHPR Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum
Seekers, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons call to +220 441 0505 /
+220 441 0506 or write to
au-banjul@africa-union.org.
Visit:
http://www.achpr.org/mechanisms/refugees-and-internally-displaced-persons/
No. 140/12