31/80 Technical cooperation and capacity-building to promote and protect the rights of all migrants, including women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities

Human Rights Council Thirty-first session

Agenda items 2 and 10

Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the

High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Technical assistance and capacity-building

Technical cooperation and capacity-building to promote and protect the rights of all migrants, including women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities

Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights

Summary

In the present report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights provides examples of the type of technical assistance and advisory services

provided by the Office of the High Commissioner , alone or with other United Nations

entities, to promote and protect the rights of migrants. It is based on research undertaken by

the Office on national and regional experiences and highlights methodologies, good

practices and lessons learned that have been gathered by the Office in the field and at

headquarters.

Contents

Page

I. Introduction and methodology ........................................................................................................ 3

II. Framework for technical cooperation in the context of migration ................................................... 4

III. National and regional technical cooperation experiences to promote and protect the rights

of all migrants, including women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities ............... 7

A. Compliance of national legislation, policies, programmes and institutions,

including the judiciary and national human rights institutions, with international

human rights standards ............................................................................................................ 7

B. Ratification of international and regional human rights instruments, and review of reservations 13

C. Compliance of national legislation, policies and programmes and institutions

with international human rights standards to combat discrimination, particularly

against women ......................................................................................................................... 14

D. Increased use of existing national protection systems and participation in public processes

by rights holders, especially women and discriminated groups ............................................... 15

E. Compliance and engagement by States with United Nations human rights mechanisms

and bodies ................................................................................................................................ 16

IV. Conclusions and recommendations ................................................................................................. 17

I. Introduction and methodology

1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 30/21,

in which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a report on the activities undertaken by the Office,

other relevant United Nations agencies and, where applicable, regional organizations, to

support efforts by States to promote and protect the rights of migrants in their national

legislations, policies and programmes. It will serve as a basis for a thematic panel

discussion to be held by the Council at its thirty-first session under agenda item 10.

2. In its resolution 30/21, the Human Rights Council acknowledged the cultural and

economic contributions made by migrants to their communities of origin and destination,

and the need to identify appropriate means of maximizing development benefits, to respond

to the challenges that migration poses to countries of origin, transit and destination, to

promote dignified, humane treatment with applicable protections and access to basic

services, and to strengthen mechanisms for international cooperation. It recognized that

States were responsible for promoting and protecting the human rights of all persons who

are in their territory and subject to their jurisdiction, including irregular migrants, in

accordance with their international human rights obligations, and the shared responsibilities

of countries of origin, transit and destination to promote and protect the human rights of

migrants, and avoid approaches that might aggravate their vulnerability, bearing in mind

the need to address the special situation and vulnerability of migrant women and girls. It

expressed deep concern at the large and growing number of migrants, in particular women

and children, including those unaccompanied or separated from their parents, who find

themselves in a vulnerable situation when they attempt to cross international borders, and

recognized the obligation of States to respect the human rights of those migrants, in

accordance with their applicable international human rights obligations.

3. The present report covers the period from 2010 to 2015, considered a reasonable

time frame within which incipient results can be provided. It illustrates the kind of work

that OHCHR has undertaken to advance respect for migrants’ rights in response to requests

and expressions of interest by Member States. It presents initiatives and strategies that have

shown potential for promoting and protecting the rights of migrants, and highlights

methodologies, good practices and lessons learned gathered by OHCHR in the field and at

headquarters. The report is organized around the relevant results (expected

accomplishments) that OHCHR has set for itself in the area of migration, and includes a

number of initiatives that OHCHR has taken in cooperation with other United Nations

entities and regional organizations.

4. The integration of human rights norms and standards in migration policy and the

adoption of a human rights-based approach at the national, regional and international levels

have long been a priority of OHCHR. Before 2013, the protection of human rights in the

context of migration was a thematic priority. In 2013, the OHCHR Management Plan for

the period 2014-2017 mainstreamed migration across six thematic priorities for OHCHR in

order to better integrate work on migration throughout the Office’s activities.

5. The present report describes a selection of technical cooperation practices developed

by OHCHR and other United Nations entities and regional organizations that have proved

effective and yielded visible results when supporting State efforts to align national policies,

strategies and laws with international human rights norms and principles, recommendations

and commitments. To facilitate discussions in the Human Rights Council, these experiences

have been organized under the expected accomplishments of OHCHR that are most

relevant to technical cooperation and advisory services in the area of migration, taking into

account the contributions received from other United Nations entities and regional

organizations. This methodology provides a non-exhaustive overview of practices that are

representative of the human rights technical cooperation and advisory services provided.

6. Through their technical cooperation and advisory services, the United Nations and

regional organizations seek to assist States to ensure that duty-bearers uphold their human

rights obligations. They support States’ efforts to ensure that national legislation, policies,

programmes and institutions comply with international human rights standards; to ratify

international and regional human rights treaties and review reservations; to establish

functioning and compliant national and regional protection systems and accountability

mechanisms to monitor, investigate and redress human rights violations; and to build or

strengthen mechanisms that enable rights-holders, in particular women and groups subject

to discrimination, to claim their rights. At the international level, OHCHR assists States to

meet their obligations by supporting their engagement with international human rights

mechanisms and bodies, in association with other United Nations entities and, where

pertinent, regional organizations.

7. To prepare the present report, OHCHR gathered information on the experiences,

methodologies and learning of OHCHR headquarters and field presences, including

regional and country offices, human rights components of United Nations peace missions,

and human rights advisers to United Nations country teams, which work closely with host

governments. Through the Global Migration Group, the Office also requested contributions

from other United Nations entities and regional organizations. Contributions were received

from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Food and Agricultural

Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO),

the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Entity for

Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).

II. Framework for technical cooperation in the context of

migration

8. The movement of people across national boundaries is a universal human

phenomenon. Approximately 244 million people, or 3 per cent of the world’s population,

currently live outside their countries of origin, and approximately half of them are women

and girls. Of these, ILO estimated in December 2015 that some 150 million were migrant

workers. 1

9. Migration is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon. It may be temporary or

permanent, forced or voluntary, and makes use of regular and irregular channels of travel.

Migrants move within and between countries of the global South and North, and migration

affects all regions of the world. Migration patterns have a powerful impact on the

economies, societies and cultures of countries of origin, transit and destination. At the same

time, it must always be remembered that at the heart of migration are individual human

beings who are entitled to the full range of human rights.

10. While many migrants are able freely and safely to move, live and work with dignity,

millions of migrants are driven into insecure and vulnerable conditions as a result of

economic disparities, conflict, environmental degradation, limited regular opportunities for

migration, lack of access to rights such as health and education, and discrimination.

Furthermore, as governments seek to combat irregular migration, including by strengthened

1 ILO Global estimates of migrant workers and migrant domestic workers: results and methodology

(ILO, Geneva, 2015).

frontier controls, borders can become sites of violence, discrimination and abuse. Increased

border surveillance and securitization, together with a drastic reduction of accessible

avenues for regular migration, have caused migrants to seek more perilous routes. Many

rely on the services of brokers, agents, smugglers and other private actors, and some fall

into the hands of abusive smugglers and traffickers. Smuggling does not in itself constitute

a human rights violation, although in the course of smuggling the human rights of migrants

can be abused (see A/HRC/31/35); trafficking, by contrast, is always a human rights

violation. In a distinct but complementary dimension of its work, OHCHR has made

progress in advancing on the human rights-based approach to combat and prevent

trafficking, which makes use of technical support and capacity-building and supports the

Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

11. In countries of destination, regular and irregular migrants may find themselves

subject to systematic discrimination and without access to their fundamental rights to

health, housing and decent work. Exclusionary and xenophobic political rhetoric has spread

around the world, fuelling intolerance and resentment of migrants, often leading to acts of

violence, hate crimes and hate speech. Hidden away in private households, migrant

domestic workers are frequently subject to intolerable living and working conditions.

12. Women and children, and other vulnerable groups (such as persons with disabilities

and older persons) are at particular risk of violence and discrimination in the course of

migration. In its general recommendation No. 26 (2008) on women migrant workers, the

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women highlighted the fact that

undocumented women migrant workers were particularly vulnerable to exploitation and

abuse because of their irregular immigration status, which exacerbated their exclusion and

the risk of exploitation. They could be exploited as forced labour, and their access to

minimum labour rights could be limited by fear of denouncement. They could also face

harassment by the police. If apprehended, they were usually prosecuted for violations of

immigration laws and placed in detention centres, where they were vulnerable to sexual

abuse, and then deported.

13. Migrant children and adolescents, particularly those in an irregular situation, are also

exposed to human rights violations and abuses at various points of their journey. The risks

to unaccompanied and separated migrant children are of particular concern to OHCHR,

other United Nations entities, and regional organizations. During recent migration and

asylum flows to Europe and the United States of America, their number has increased

dramatically. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international

standards, States have a duty to immediately identify and protect such children, acting in

their best interests. However, migration policies and practices frequently allow immigration

enforcement to override child protection imperatives, putting such children at additional

risk of exploitation and human rights abuse. In many countries, furthermore, age

determination procedures do not fully respect international standards. OHCHR and other

United Nations agencies, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have worked

together to assist States to develop adequate safeguards, policies and programmes that

comply with international standards.

14. In the past five years, OHCHR has strengthened its work on migration, including to

provide better support to States and regional organizations as they address these and other

challenges on the ground. Technical cooperation, an integral element of all OHCHR

programmes, is one of the vehicles used by the Office to provide this support. Including

both technical assistance and capacity-building, it aims to identify and address knowledge

and capacity gaps, to facilitate constructive dialogue and to help national counterparts to

achieve positive change. OHCHR undertakes technical cooperation activities at the request

and with the agreement of States. They include a comprehensive assessment of the human

rights situation in a given country, and seek to align laws, policies, institutions and practices

with international standards and obligations. Technical assistance and capacity-building

complement other key OHCHR functions, as set out by the General Assembly in its

resolution 48/141.

15. Supporting good technical cooperation work requires understanding better the real

situations faced by those persons and groups affected and discussing possible workable

solutions with them and all relevant actors. OHCHR released a short documentary film in

2015, “I Am Not Here”, in collaboration with Oscar-nominated director Ashvin Kumar,

that follows the stories of three women in cities in Switzerland, the United States and

Malaysia. It highlights the situation of undocumented women migrant domestic workers,

millions of whom live in the shadows. The aim of making the film with all partners

involved was to give a voice to those who are too often silenced, and to provide a platform

for those who do not dare to come out of hiding. Around the world, millions of

undocumented migrant domestic workers – women, men and even children – live their lives

in the shadows, with no access services that others take for granted, and afraid to complain

when they are ill-treated. The film was launched on the margins of the thirtieth session of

the Human Rights Council, and has been screened to audiences in New York, Bangkok,

Mumbai, London and New Delhi.

16. Since the creation of the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights, OHCHR has worked closely with States to support their efforts to advance

the enjoyment of human rights by all persons, including migrants. Its work has included

advisory services, including technical advice on institution-building and strengthening

legislation and policies; training; awareness-raising initiatives; national workshops;

dialogue facilitation; provision of documentation, publications and web tools; and the

sharing of good practices from other countries. OHCHR, including through its field

presences, promotes and supports the efforts of States to apply a human rights-based

approach to migration. Numerous United Nations organizations and regional bodies work

with and support States through technical cooperation in the area of migration. OHCHR

therefore strives to ensure that its support falls within the High Commissioner’s mandate

and in areas where the Office’s expertise adds value and has a comparative advantage. The

Office works closely with all relevant United Nations agencies and regional organizations

to ensure that the support they provide at the request of States is complementary and

effective.

17. Through its field presences and headquarters, OHCHR engages directly with

governments and actively cooperates with national stakeholders to promote and protect

human rights, not least by applying mechanisms that protect marginalized groups at

particular risk, such as migrants. Its technical support applies a human rights-based

approach that upholds the universality, inalienability, indivisibility, interdependence and

interrelatedness of all human rights, thereby ensuring that decisions and objectives are

achieved in a participative and inclusive manner that respects the rule of law, is accountable

and transparent, and avoids discrimination.

18. The Board of Trustees that oversees the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation

in the Field of Human Rights and the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical

Assistance for the Implementation of the Universal Periodic Review (two key financial

sources for OHCHR technical assistance) advises the Office on policy and strategic

orientation with regard to technical cooperation. During its field sessions, the Board has

discussed migration with the main counterparts and observed examples of cooperation.

Some of these, in Mauritania, Mexico and Tunisia, are described in the present report. The

OHCHR performance monitoring system, a results-based management tool, also provided

information for this report on how and how well results were reached. The system has

proved particularly useful for identifying relevant areas of cooperation since 2014, when

migration was mainstreamed within the Office’s six principal thematic strategies.

19. As a founding member of the Global Migration Group and Co-Chair of its Working

Group on Migration, Human Rights and Gender, OHCHR has sought to inject a human

rights perspective into national, regional and global discussions on migration. The High

Commissioner has personally highlighted the importance of migration and the protection of

migrants’ rights in a number of public statements and keynote speeches, in addition to

publishing joint statements on the plight of migrants in the Mediterranean and South-East

Asia with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Director-General of

IOM and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on International Migration

and Development (the “quartet”). OHCHR will work closely with Global Migration Group

and quartet partners to ensure that the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on

large-scale movements of refugees and migrants, to be organized by the Secretary-General

at the seventy-first session of the Assembly, will be human rights-based and migrant-

centred.

III. National and regional technical cooperation experiences to

promote and protect the rights of all migrants, including

women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities

A. Compliance of national legislation, policies, programmes and

institutions, including the judiciary and national human rights

institutions, with international human rights standards

20. At the global level, OHCHR launched its Recommended Principles and Guidelines

on Human Rights at International Borders during the sixty-ninth session of the General

Assembly, and subsequently in Brussels, Geneva and other regional settings. The Principles

address capacity-building, rescue and interception, assistance, screening, identification and

referral, as well as conditions of detention and removal, and have been broadly welcomed

by a wide range of stakeholders. Member States are already applying the Principles: for

example, in Switzerland, the State Secretariat on Migration refers to them in its internal

guidance.

21. The Working Group on Human Rights and Gender of the Global Migration Group

(which OHCHR co-chairs with UN-Women) has agreed to develop practical guidance

drawn from international human rights law and related standards to ensure that responses to

“mixed migration flows” are human rights-based.

22. In June 2015, OHCHR held an expert meeting on the theme, “Human rights and

migrant smuggling: exploring issues and challenges”, which convened experts from United

Nations agencies, Member States, academia and civil society to discuss smuggling from a

human rights perspective.

23. In its resolution 29/2, the Human Rights Council requested OHCHR to submit to the

Council before its thirty-first session a study on the situation of migrants in transit, in

consultation with States and other stakeholders. The report will address several of the

concerns raised by the Council in resolution 29/2, notably the risks faced by women

migrants and children, in particular unaccompanied and separated children.

24. OHCHR provides substantive technical assistance on human rights to the Global

Forum on Migration and Development for its annual meeting , participating in and

informing government teams, drafting background documentation and contributing to

discussions. For instance, OHCHR led the drafting of a background paper on the theme

“Partnerships to promote inclusion and protect the human rights of all migrants in order to

achieve the full benefits of migration” for the Global Forum in Turkey in 2015, and

produced a short brochure entitled “Public Perceptions, Migration and Human Rights” for

dissemination to participants in the meeting of the Global Forum in Mauritius in 2012.

25. In the framework of the Global Action Programme on Migrant Domestic Workers

and their Families, in September 2015 OHCHR convened a global seminar in Bangkok on

the human rights of migrant domestic workers in an irregular situation. The discussion shed

light on the human rights challenges that such domestic workers face, and the gaps in their

protection. In addition to government representatives, the participants included experts

from human rights mechanisms, United Nations agencies, human rights and migrants’

rights non-governmental organizations, domestic workers’ and migrants’ associations, trade

unions and academic institutions. OHCHR released the report “Behind closed doors:

protecting and promoting the human rights of migrant domestic workers in an irregular

situation” during the event, and subsequently produced an outcome document with 10 key

messages on protecting and promoting the human rights of migrant domestic workers. In

May 2010, the OHCHR Regional Office for Europe organized a colloquium in Brussels on

this important issue. Its findings were set out by the Regional Office in a background paper,

entitled “Rights of Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe” for an ILO conference that

included discussions on the possibility of a new ILO convention on domestic workers.

26. In March 2015, OHCHR published a study on the economic, social and cultural

rights of migrants in an irregular situation. Designed for use by government policymakers,

national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, lawyers, judges and migrants

themselves, it describes the scope and content of the human rights of undocumented

migrants, notably in the areas of health, housing, education and employment. In December

2015, the Regional Office held a seminar entitled “Economic, social and cultural rights of

migrants: beyond the immediate crisis”, at which representatives of governments, national

human rights institutions and ombuds offices, civil society and international and regional

organizations debated promising policies and practices in member States of the European

Union with respect to the economic, social and cultural rights of migrants, regardless of

administrative status.

1. High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development: promoting

inclusive cooperation and dialogue

27. In the lead-up to the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and

Development, held on 3 and 4 October 2013, in June 2013 OHCHR organized an expert

meeting on migration, human rights and governance. Member States discussed relevant

issues with representatives of Global Migration Group agencies, human rights mechanisms,

regional organizations, international and regional non-governmental organizations, trade

unions and academic bodies. In the report that it subsequently issued, entitled “Improving

human rights-based governance of international migration”, OHCHR identified the ongoing

need for regular cooperation and dialogue in the United Nations between all stakeholders,

including States, civil society and migrants themselves, to identify and address policy and

knowledge gaps on cross-cutting and emerging migration issues. At the High-level

Dialogue itself, OHCHR helped to ensure that discussions focused on human rights; for

example, the High Commissioner formally participated in a panel discussion, and gave key

note addresses at several important side events, which were welcomed by States, civil

society partners and other stakeholders.

2. Mexico and Tunisia: piloting indicators of migrants’ human rights

28. In April 2015, responding to requests by States for assistance with data collection and disaggregation, OHCHR, the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and

Development of the World Bank, UNICEF, ILO and the Migrant Forum in Asia organized

an expert meeting to develop indicators on the human rights of migrants, focusing on the

rights to health, education and decent work. Participants in the two-day meeting

characterized the essential attributes of the rights enshrined in international instruments and

identified contextually relevant indicators and benchmarks for measuring the degree to

which the human rights of migrants had been met, particularly at the country level. They

highlighted the need for data on the situation of migrants and their families, and for

indicators that could be used to improve the design of migration policies and programmes.

The meeting was attended by local and national government officials, human rights and

migration experts, statisticians and representatives of civil society organizations with

expertise in data collection.

29. Mexico took a lead in piloting the implementation of the findings made at the expert

meeting. A national consultation in May 2015 assessed and refined the proposed indicators

and confirmed the feasibility of producing disaggregated data on migrants. The exercise

produced useful proposals for improving data collection, including one to establish a

national information system on migration, which is currently under development.

30. As part of the same initiative, OHCHR started work on a national pilot consultation

in Tunisia, which will be conducted with the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration

and Development, UNICEF, ILO and the Migrant Forum in Asia. The Tunisian National

Observatory for Migration will lead in taking the project forward and will host a

consultation in early February 2016 to assess the applicability of various human rights

indicators to migration in Tunisia. Participants will include relevant ministries, the national

statistics office, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders.

3. Tunisia: framing a national migration strategy compliant with international

standards

31. ILO and OHCHR advised and assisted the Government of Tunisia in formulating a

national road map for labour migration policies. Developed in the course of tripartite

discussions between the Ministry of Social Affairs of Tunisia, the labour union (UGTT)

and the employers’ union (UTICA), the road map sets out the final outputs of a programme

to enhance the governance of labour migration and the protection of migrant workers’

rights in Tunisia, as well as technical cooperation priorities. The latter include, inter alia,

capacity-building programmes to protect the rights of migrants in Tunisia and programmes

to strengthen Tunisian social dialogue on migration. As advocated by OHCHR, the road

map foresees a broad advocacy campaign leading to the State’s swift adoption of the

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and

Members of Their Families.

32. Reflecting this initiative, ILO and OHCHR provided technical advice on legislative

reform with respect to labour migration in the State. A workshop held early in 2016 will

bring together Tunisian ministries, Members of Parliament, social partners, and ILO and

OHCHR experts to explore the steps required to ratify the Convention on Migrant Workers

and ILO Conventions 97, 143 and 189. It will also address key topics, including the

protection of the rights of Tunisians abroad; the situation of domestic workers in Tunisia;

potential reform of the labour code; the role of labour inspectors in protecting migrant

workers’ rights; and challenges and opportunities that migrant workers experience in their

access to the national labour market. ILO and OHCHR will draft technical notes and

documents on each of the above themes and advise the Government on how it might

implement the reforms envisaged.

33. In 2015, OHCHR, in collaboration with IOM and ILO, trained 20 officials from

ministries that deal directly with migration on a human rights-based approach to migration.

OHCHR also gave an introductory session on human rights indicators with regard to

migrants.

4. Mauritania: promoting national plans of action on trafficking and migration

34. In November 2015, under the coordination of the Commissariat for Human Rights

and Humanitarian Action, the Government of Mauritania prepared a draft national plan of

action to stop trafficking in persons, in accordance with a recommendation made during the

first cycle of the universal periodic review. OHCHR submitted substantive observations

and recommendations on best practices. At the end of 2015, the draft plan on trafficking

was awaiting finalization and adoption by the Council of Ministers.

35. Looking forward, OHCHR will continue to assist the Government of Mauritania to

prepare and adopt a national plan of action for migrants by 2017 that complies with

international standards and includes a consultation mechanism for its implementation.

5. Guatemala: compliance with international standards

36. OHCHR continued to provide technical assistance and advice to various

commissions in the Congress of Guatemala, with the objective of ensuring that initiatives

and legal reforms on migration comply with international standards. OHCHR worked

closely with the Commission on Migrants, relevant authorities and civil society on reform

of the law on migration. The views expressed by the Office, and the recommendations

made by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants and the Committee on the

on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

were incorporated into the draft, which no longer focuses purely on national security and

border control.

6. Lebanon: drafting a code of conduct for recruiting agencies

37. At the country level, OHCHR assisted governments, national human rights

institutions and civil society entities to draft and revise legislation on migrants in a manner

that conforms with international human rights standards. In Lebanon, for instance, the

Regional Office for the Middle East helped to develop a code of conduct for recruiting

agencies working with migrant domestic workers, and took a range of initiatives that made

recruiting agencies more aware of international human rights standards relevant to migrants

and migration.

7. Seychelles: assisting the Government in combating trafficking

38. In 2014, the National Assembly of Seychelles enacted the Prohibition on Trafficking

in Persons Act, which penalizes trafficking in persons and makes provisions for protecting

and rehabilitating victims of trafficking. The Act established a national interministerial

coordinating committee to harmonize the State’s efforts to combat trafficking in persons

and oversee the implementation of the National Strategy and Action Plan on Trafficking in

Persons. The law was enacted in response to the recommendations made by the Special

Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, following her visit to

the State in January 2014 (see A/HRC/26/37/Add.7).

8. Costa Rica: improving migrants’ access to services

39. Through the Joint Programme on Youth, Employment and Migration, IOM, the

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNHCR facilitate the educational

integration of young migrants and refugees in two cities in Costa Rica. The Programme

runs workshops in selected communities to raise teachers’ awareness of young migrants’

rights, and assists officials in improving the access of migrants to health and education,

immigration advice and labour opportunities.

9. European Union: human rights training for border authorities

40. OHCHR provided technical assistance to the European Agency for the Management

of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of Member States of the European

Union (FRONTEX). In 2012, it helped develop human rights training materials for border

guards, raising their awareness of approaches to migration from a human rights perspective.

41. In 2014, FRONTEX, in association with OHCHR, the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe, IOM, UNHCR and national practitioners, organized two training-

of-trainer sessions on combating and preventing trafficking in human beings for border

guards in Member States of the European Union. The sessions were attended by border and

immigration authorities from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark,

Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden,

Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

42. OHCHR and UNHCR are delivering training on human rights norms and standards

to personnel of the European Union naval force set up to detect and monitor smuggling

networks in the Mediterranean. OHCHR also contributed to the force’s distance learning

package.

43. Since 2012, facilitated by FRONTEX, the Regional Office for Europe has been

training trainers of border guards in both member and non-member States of the European

Union on combating and preventing trafficking in human beings. Since 2014, it has also

provided training to those who teach border guards about human rights, focusing on the

rights of migrants. Training focuses on increasing participants’ awareness and

understanding of international and regional human rights standards relating to migrants, and

sanctions on trafficking in human beings.

10. European Union: supporting a right-based approach to European Union legislation

and programme frameworks against trafficking in human beings

44. In 2011, when the European Union began to prepare Directive 2011/36/EU on

preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, a number

of United Nations agencies submitted a joint statement to the Council of the European

Union and the European Parliament in which they invited the European Union to adopt a

human rights-based approach that was both gender- and age-sensitive. OHCHR

subsequently participated actively in the elaboration and adoption of the Directive, in

association with other United Nations agencies, including ILO, UNHCR, UNICEF, the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN-Women.

45. In 2012, OHCHR, together with five Brussels-based United Nations agencies,

finalized and launched a joint United Nations commentary on the Anti-Trafficking

Directive. Designed for policymakers, legislators and civil society organizations, the

commentary was designed to assist member States of the European Union to integrate the

Directive into national legislation, building on previous engagement of the United Nations

with European Union institutions in this area. It provides practical guidance on the

application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of the Directive,

putting human rights at the centre of all efforts, including when dealing with the criminal

dimensions of trafficking in and the smuggling of persons.

46. In April 2013, OHCHR and the Regional Office for Europe organized a seminar in

Brussels on the recommendations that United Nations human rights mechanisms – treaty

bodies, special procedures and the universal periodic review – had made to member States

of the European Union on the subject of migrants’ rights. At the seminar, participants

explored how the recommendations could be applied to improve respect for migrants’

human rights. Representatives of 24 member States of the European Union and of national

human rights institutions heard presentations by OHCHR experts, the Special Rapporteur

on the human rights of migrants, the European Commission, UNICEF, IOM, the Council of

Europe, and Amnesty International. Meeting under the Chatham House rule, the

participants examined, inter alia, policies to prevent the detention of migrant children, the

separation of migrant children from their families, migrants’ access to national health

insurance schemes, and legal protection of migrant domestic workers.

11. Ethiopia: addressing youth employment and distress migration

47. FAO works in Ethiopia (and also Tunisia) to address the root causes of migration

and to promote innovative mechanisms to generate rural youth employment. The project

“Youth mobility, food security and rural poverty reduction: fostering rural diversification

through enhanced youth employment and better labour mobility” meets the needs of rural

young adults and maximizes the development benefits that migrants can bring to their

communities of origin. It has used remittances to generate productive activities, explored

the potential of sustainable production practices to generate “green” jobs, and facilitated

seasonal employment opportunities for young adults. The aim is to identify successful

practices and to replicate them in other countries.

12. Africa region: the importance of sound data for policymaking

48. The Population Division and the Statistic Division of the Department of Economic

and Social Affairs and the Economic Commission for Africa organized two regional

workshops: in November 2014, in Addis Ababa, and in September 2015, in Dakar. Their

main objective was to strengthen the technical capacity of government officials who

produce, analyse and apply migration data from all sources, and their capacity to inform

national migration policies and development plans. The workshops were aimed at enabling

participating countries to produce national migration data that meet international standards,

and increasing understanding of the uses and limitations of migration data for policy

purposes, including policies associated with the implementation of the Declaration of the

High-level Dialogue on International Migration 2 and Development and the post-2015

development agenda.

49. The workshop in Addis Ababa brought together experts from national statistical

offices responsible for official statistics on international migration, relevant ministries or

agencies that compile and analyse administrative migration data for policy purposes, and

representatives of ministries in Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi,

Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Delegates

from Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Libya, Mali, Mauretania, Morocco, the

Niger, Senegal and Togo attended the workshop in Dakar.

2 General Assembly resolution 68/4.

13. North Africa: protecting migrants and asylum seekers

50. In its resolution 17/22, the Human Rights Council requested OHCHR to monitor the

situation of migrants and asylum seekers in North Africa. In he report submitted to the

Council pursuant to that request (A/HRC/18/54), OHCHR highlighted the human rights

concerns associated with the displacement of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing events in

North Africa between January and August 2011, described the international response, and

made recommendations designed to protect the human rights of migrants and asylum

seekers.

B. Ratification of international and regional human rights instruments,

and review of reservations

1. Supporting ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the

Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and national

legislation compliant with international standards

51. During the period under review, OHCHR assisted a number of national governments

that plan to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All

Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families by 2017, notably Djibouti, Ethiopia,

Honduras, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

52. In December 2010, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention,

the OHCHR Regional Office for Europe organized a seminar in the European Parliament

with the participation of European Members of Parliament representing several political

groups. It presented the draft of a comprehensive study on how best to narrow the gap

between European Union law and the Convention. The event addressed the often-repeated

but anachronistic and occasionally self-contradictory arguments put forward by States that

oppose ratification of the Convention. Several members of the European Parliament

attended the official launch of the OHCHR publication Rights of Migrant Workers in

Europe.

2. Madagascar: supporting ratification of the International Convention on the

Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and

national legislation compliant with international standards

53. Since 2007, thousands of Malagasy migrant workers have sought employment

abroad, notably in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia and Seychelles. Drawn by

promises of better working conditions, many have been exploited and suffered ill-treatment.

When the Minister for the Public Function and Social Affairs decided to send 500 domestic

workers per month to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 2014, OHCHR, IOM and civil society

organizations, with the Ministry of Justice, organized a meeting in the Prime Minister’s

Office to discuss the need to protect the rights of Malagasy migrant workers. The

Governing Council subsequently issued a decree that suspended the transfer of non-

qualified Malagasy labour to countries that could not provide sufficient protection for

migrant workers.

54. On 27 November 2013, Madagascar ratified the Convention. Through advocacy and

capacity-building, OHCHR supported government and parliamentary efforts to

operationalize this important instrument. A law authorizing ratification was promulgated by

the President of the Republic on 20 February 2014, and the State’s instrument of ratification

was deposited on 13 May 2015, helping to strengthen the human rights protection system in

Madagascar.

55. On 16 December 2014, Madagascar, encouraged by intensive advocacy, training and

sensitization by OHCHR, IOM, UNICEF, UNFPA and the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP), adopted a law against human trafficking. This landmark law protects

victims of trafficking, punishes perpetrators and affirms the State’s responsibility to protect

the rights of victims to return to their country and to compensation. At the Government’s

request, OHCHR advised on State’s compliance with international standards and principles

and, as Chair of the Human Rights and Gender Working Group of the United Nations

country team, coordinated technical support for the Government when it was drafting a

national plan of action against human trafficking, which was adopted and validated in

March 2015. At the request of the Ministry of Population, Social Protection and the

Promotion of Women, OHCHR is assisting the Government in drafting a national plan of

action for the protection of minorities, including migrants and persons with disabilities.

C. Compliance of national legislation, policies and programmes and

institutions with international human rights standards to combat

discrimination, particularly against women

1. Mexico and Guatemala: advancing protection of the human and labour rights of

migrant workers

56. Since 2013, ILO has assisted the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection

(Secretaria del Trabajo y Prevision Social) of Mexico and the Ministry of Labour and

Social Protection (Ministerio de Trabajo y Prevision Social) of Guatemala to develop and

implement a bilateral labour migration agreement. The purpose of the agreement is to

promote decent, productive jobs and to protect the labour rights of temporary migrant

workers by, inter alia, strengthening public employment services and creating a binational

system for licensing and monitoring private employment and recruitment agencies. ILO is

technically assisting both countries to create a binational technical working group and a

new temporary migrant worker programme, and to organize information campaigns on the

protection of migrant workers’ rights during recruitment and placement processes.

2. Europe: protection of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children

57. In 2011, the Regional Office for Europe held a judicial colloquium on the

implementation of article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (best interests of

the child) in procedures involving migrant children, in particular unaccompanied or

separated children. Organized in cooperation with UNICEF and with the support of

UNHCR, Save the Children, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, the Supreme

Court of Catalonia and the Office of the Ombudsman (Spain), the colloquium brought

together judges from national and regional courts in Europe to share experiences and views

on how the principle of best interests can be fully respected and implemented. It considered

a range of critical issues, including age determination proceedings, decisions on durable

and long-term solutions for such children, access to basic social services, and the

procedural safeguards necessary to ensure that children’s rights are respected when

decisions that may have a critical effect their future are made. The results of the colloquium

were included in publications that informed efforts to implement the European Commission

Action Plan on Unaccompanied Minors (2010-2014) at European Union and national

levels.

58. In 2012, the Regional Office for Europe published the findings made at the

colloquium. Judicial Implementation of Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the

Child in Europe: the case of migrant children, including unaccompanied children was

made public during a plenary session of the Committee on Civil Liberties of the European

Parliament, which is responsible for discussing human rights issues in the European Union.

A key advocacy tool, the study has raised awareness of the importance of the role of the

judiciary in determining the best interests of migrant children. It highlights good judicial

practices with respect to migrant children, efforts to take them into account in policymaking

and programme implementation, and differences of practice between member States of the

European Union.

59. The Regional Office for Europe continues to pay special attention to the situation of

unaccompanied and separated children in Europe, and will support efforts by European

Union institutions and member States to follow up on the Action Plan in 2016 and in

coming years.

3. Thailand: supporting State efforts to protect the rights of those in migrant shelters

60. In 2013, the Regional Office for South-East Asia, together with the National Human

Rights Commission of Thailand, as part of its support to strengthen the capacity of national

human rights institutions and other State institutions, conducted a joint mission to women’s

and children’s shelters in Thailand to assess the treatment and conditions of migrants, in

particular the situation of Rohingyas. After the visit, the two organizations engaged jointly

with local and national authorities to ensure that the rights of women and children in

shelters are protected and that they receive basic minimal facilities, and to support

initiatives to strengthen the human rights capacity of relevant institutions.

4. Philippines: aligning national legislation on migration with the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

61. In partnership with OHCHR and ILO, UN-Women has developed the project

“Promoting and Protecting Women Migrant Workers’ Labour and Human Rights:

Engaging with International and National Human Rights Mechanisms to Enhance

Accountability” in the Philippines, Mexico and the Republic of Moldova. The project

promotes gender-sensitive policies on migration and development through research,

capacity-building and advocacy, focusing on the provisions of general recommendation No.

26 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Philippines

aligned the provisions of the new bill on overseas workers’ welfare with the International

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

D. Increased use of existing national protection systems and participation

in public processes by right holders, especially women and

discriminated groups

Republic of Moldova: assisting national authorities to protect individual rights

62. In the context of the efforts of OHCHR to build national capacity, its technical

cooperation and advisory services have strengthened the capacity of rights holders to gain

access to national protection systems. One such example is its part role in the United

Nations – Moldova Development Partnership Framework (2013-2017). In October 2013, a

Moldovan citizen requested assistance because her partner, a citizen of Ghana, had been

deported to his country of origin, even though the couple had a six-month-old child.

Technical support was provided to the citizen to explain the State’s procedures and to

facilitate discussion of the case with the Bureau for Migration and Asylum. Her partner was

issued a 30-day visa, which allowed him to return to the Republic of Moldova to register

with the civil authorities. In another case, following a visit of the Special Rapporteur on

extreme poverty and human rights in September 2013, three women held in a migrant

detention centre, who were at risk of being deported from the Republic of Moldova and

becoming victims of human trafficking, were freed and offered legal assistance to secure

residence permits in the country. Through its human rights advisers, OHCHR has assisted

victims and United Nations partners to clarify international law requirements.

E. Compliance and engagement by States with United Nations human

rights mechanisms and bodies

1. Timor-Leste: strengthening State capacity to report on the International Convention

on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their

Families

63. At the request of the Government of Timor-Leste, the human rights advisers unit of

OHCHR provided its assistance in preparing the first State party report under the

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and

Members of Their Families. Between March and October 2015, the unit, in collaboration

with IOM, conducted three training sessions for 40 officials (including 10 women) on the

Convention, the reporting process and its outcome, facilitated the translation of the list of

issues and the concluding observations into Tetum (one of the official languages of Timor-

Leste), and co-facilitated with the Government two consultations that gathered input for the

report from State officials, civil society entities, the private sector and embassies. At the

Government’s request, the unit also commented on the draft State report. It disseminated

the concluding observations to government officials, the national human rights institution,

civil society entities, the United Nations and development partners, as well as to members

of a government-led technical working group that was preparing a national plan of action

on labour migration, with extensive support from IOM.

64. The draft plan of action includes a number of recommendations made by the

Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their

Families in September 2015 (see CMW/C/TLS/CO/1). In the recommendations, the

Committee called upon the Government to reform laws that restrict workers’ rights, to raise

public awareness of the benefits of migration, to promote non-discrimination, to improve

monitoring of labour conditions and to strengthen accountability for abuses of migrant

workers. OHCHR provided funding to allow some of these activities to be undertaken.

2. Belarus: protecting the human rights of victims of trafficking

65. After the universal periodic review of Belarus and in response to the

recommendation that to the State develop and implement, together with OHCHR, training

courses on protecting the human rights of victims of human trafficking for representatives

of law enforcement bodies, including those studying at the International Centre on

Migration and Anti-Trafficking in Minsk, OHCHR is currently implementing a technical

cooperation project in close consultation with UNDP in Belarus. During the first phase,

concluded in December 2013, five training courses were organized for law enforcement

officials. They included a workshop for member States of the Group of Friends United

against Human Trafficking, and an international workshop on the theme “Cross-border

cooperation: exchange of experiences and best practices for combating international

trafficking”. Five training courses for law enforcement officials have been organized during

the ongoing second phase, which started in 2014. The courses, attended mainly by

participants from Belarus but also from Estonia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, the Republic of

Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, addressed the challenges of trafficking in

persons, and identified good practices when combating trafficking.

3. European Union: assisting the Special Rapporteur on the rights of migrants to study

the management of the external borders of the European Union

66. In 2012 and 2013, OHCHR assisted the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of

migrants to study the management of the external borders of the European Union and its

human rights impact on migrants. His research included visits to Brussels for consultations

with European Union officials, and to Greece, Italy, Tunisia and Turkey (see

A/HRC/23/46).

IV. Conclusions and recommendations

67. The examples presented in the present report highlight a number of

experiences where the provision of technical cooperation and advisory services has

proved helpful in supporting States’ efforts when applying a rights-based approach to

the development and implementation of migration policies and programmes.

68. Experience has shown that protecting human rights in the context of migration

requires a multifaceted approach, involving a large number of national, regional and

international actors. Cooperation is a key component of successful and efficient

interventions. The participation of all State and non-State stakeholders in the design,

implementation, monitoring of progress, and evaluation of policies and programmes is

fundamental to all rights-based interventions. In the area of migration, it is

particularly crucial because the elements of migration policies are so diverse and

involve a wide range of State and non-State actors. The support provided through

technical cooperation and advisory services by OHCHR and other United Nations

entities is based on the need to guarantee the human rights of all migrants, regardless

of their status, and to ensure the fulfilment by States of their international legal

obligations. The commitments in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to

“leave no one behind” and to cooperate internationally to ensure safe, orderly and

regular migration that fully respects human rights regardless of migration status

require an approach to migration that is based fully on human rights.

69. In recent years, the Human Rights Council has increasingly called for a human

rights-based approach to migration, expressing its wish that OHCHR should continue

to play a lead role. In this respect, the Council could consider holding regular

discussions on the human rights of migrants by, for example, organizing an annual

panel discussion thereon.

70. The examples given in the present report of technical assistance to support

States’ efforts illustrate many of the steps that must be taken to realize a human

rights-based approach to migration.

71. It is important, first of all, to ensure that national laws on migration comply

with international standards, and to establish a national strategy for protecting the

rights of migrants, including plans to respect, protect and fulfil their rights to health,

adequate housing, education and decent work.

72. In all forms of migration, it is essential to disaggregate needs and to identify the

special needs and risks of specific groups, including women, children (including

unaccompanied children), domestic workers, persons with disabilities and older

persons. This task requires the development of accurate and well-designed

arrangements for data collection and analysis, and a variety of indicators and

benchmarks that allow States and other actors to measure the extent to which policies

and their implementation actually protect and meet the needs of both migrants and

host societies.

73. Good policies and laws that comply with international standards are not,

however, sufficient by themselves. Institutions with appropriate capacity are required

to implement them. This implies the provision of training in human rights law and

standards that relate to migrants, for border officials, judicial officials, government

officials , professionals who deliver essential services or make important decisions

(such as teachers and medical personnel), and also civil society organizations and

migrants themselves.

74. It is vital to regulate and inform employers and recruiters of migrant workers,

and to monitor and regulate employment conditions and contracts, not least by

training and empowering factory inspectors and law enforcement and judicial officials

who prosecute cases of abuse, protect victims and provide victims with redress.

75. Lastly, it is vital to train and strengthen the capacity of independent monitoring

bodies, in particular national human rights institutions and civil society organizations,

to ensure that public institutions are properly accountable.

76. The examples of technical assistance given in the present report cover most or

all of these essential dimensions of action to promote a rounded, human rights-based

response to all forms of migration. In close collaboration with States, other United

Nations agencies and a wide range of independent bodies, OHCHR will continue to

work towards a fully coherent and rights-based approach to migration, undertaking

technical assistance activities that complement the mandates of these actors and add

value.