Val Soe, APWLD Programme Assistant
Nalini Singh, APWLD Programme Officer
APWLD’s Labour and Migration Task Force commends the first international attempt to dialogue on the protection of the rights of migrants at the UN level in a landmark event that saw governments of more than a hundred countries from both developed and developing
world gathered together to acknowledge that migration is a global phenomenon with many complexities, opportunities, and threats.
While the High Level Dialogue, held on 14-15 September, 2006, in New York, put much emphasis
on development, more precisely, economic development through migration, there is a growing need to give equal emphasis on the human development aspect of migration particularly the protection of human rights of migrants. Member states’ engagement with migration will remain ineffective unless the human rights aspect of migration is taken into core consideration. Since the migrant workers are the ones who make the development aspect of migration beneficial, not protecting their rights, but only reaping benefits from them is not a sustainable solution for development in the long run.
Likewise, migrants are the ones who can speak out for their human rights situations. Given that there will be an on-going permanent dialogue on migration at the international level, APWLD strongly urges that all international entities, states, and migration agencies engaging in dialogues on migration to be inclusive of migrants themselves and their representation.
The value of on-the-ground information, realities, and conditions must not be undermined as migrants have first-hand experiences of implications of immigration policies and practices, flaws of systems, dealing with strength and weakness of human rights protective mechanisms. Hence, migrants are the best resources to be part of any dialogue on migration.
Therefore, APWLD’s Labour and Migration Task Force calls on:
- The inclusion of and consultation with migrants and organisations working with migrant groups in further migration dialogues;
- All member states to sign and ratify the 1990 International Convention on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; and
- Immediate and stringent implementation of existing protective mechanisms and measures in both the countries of origin and recipient countries.
As the UN General Assembly before closing of the High Level Dialogue stated “calls to maximise the development benefits of migration while reduce its negative impacts via international cooperation,” the Labour and Migration Task Force of APWLD looks forward to witness that all the states concerned will take real action in reducing negative impacts of migration, and to ensure that the call is not paid in lip-service.
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