Human rights of migrants: challenges of the new decade

Nordic Journal of International Law, 2014

The UN Convention on Migrant Workers' Rights is the most comprehensive international treaty in the field of migration and human rights. Adopted in 1990 and entered into force in 2003, it sets a standard in terms of access to human rights for migrants. However, it suffers from a marked indifference: only forty states have ratified it and no major immigration country has done so. This highlights how migrants remain forgotten in terms of access to rights. Even though their labour is essential in the world economy, the non-economic aspect of migrationand especially migrants' rightsremain a neglected dimension of globalisation. This volume provides in-depth information on the Convention and on the reasons behind states' reluctance towards its ratification. It brings together researchers, international civil servants and NGO members and relies upon an interdisciplinary perspective that includes not only law, but also sociology and political science. ryszard cholewinski was a reader in Law at the University of Leicester from 1992 to 2005. He now works at the International Organization for Migration. paul de guchteneire is Chief of the International Migration and Multicultural Policies Section at UNESCO and director of the International Journal on Multicultural Societies.

Migration has become a common practice around the world for various purposes and it is not new phenomenon. There is no continent, no region of the world, which does not have its contingent of migrant workers. Population is one of the elements for the formation of a state. When population increases excessively and consequently, living style becomes difficult and they want to move from one place to another place. For the protection of the migrants, there is a set of such international instruments do exist to protect and promote their rights. It is needed to recognize and establish migrant worker's rights in our national migration policy for a safe, humane and right based international migration. In this paper, it is tried to focus on the major problems of that is faced by the migrants because of the violation of human rights.

International Migration Review, 2010

Migration is a complex phenomenon: on the one hand, it encompasses economic, political, historical, sociological and legal issues, and, on the other, it entails several dichotomies and a multitude of causes. Such complexity has created a myriad of obstacles to construct a normative system that addresses all aspects of this phenomenon through the adoption of hard international norms. In the current global political scenario, it seems counterproductive to exclusively invest in a pathway that has not been able to achieve much so far and that focuses on the phenomenon of migration rather than on its subjects: the migrants. In light of this, this article proposes four strategies to enhance the architecture of International Law in dealing with migration, so as to allow for its improvement. These are: 1) assuming the protagonism of migrants in migration and, thus, shifting the focus from the regulation of the phenomenon to the protection of its subjects and enhancing a human rights' approach to migration, 2) enhancing the dialogue between existing international regimes and International Law in the governance of migration with a human rights lens, 3) using less formalistic approaches such as soft law and the participation of stakeholders in the governance of migration with a responsibility-sharing approach, and 4) using regional approaches to facilitate the development of stronger cooperation and regional norms. These strategies should be informed by the principle of complementarity both among themselves and in seeking international hard norms. They ultimately need to be part of a larger international structure for the protection of human dignity and human rights. Presenting this approach and these strategies and assessing whether they would constitute a superior manner in which International Law should engage with issues that arise from migration and enhance the protection of migrants are the aims of this article.

Academicus : International Scientific Journal, 2013

Irregular immigration is a phenomenon with a substantial impact for the majority of the countries. The paper analyses whether there is an adequate human rights framework for protection of irregular immigrants or whether the irregular status exempts the migrants from the protection of international human rights law. If this is the case, then the human rights universality has failed. The paper takes into consideration the developments in the International and EU Law, as well as in the jurisprudence of the international tribunals regarding protection of irregular immigrants. It is divided into three main sections. The first section informs briefly on the dynamics of irregular immigrants; the second section analyses the legislation on irregular immigration from the perspective of the state sovereignty, the third section analyses the human rights law and the protection it affords to irregular immigrants, pursuant to the interpretation of International tribunals.

Human Rights Review, 2012

Baština, 2024

The contemporary migrant (refugee) crisis that began in 2010 in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East is by no means accidental, but a very well-planned and executed migration of people. This plan slowly leads to the formation of a completely new world order in such a way as to destroy the previous national one, and create a completely new limited sovereignty. The de-sovereignation of nation-states has become a scourge of the modern age. A typical example is the European Union, which, in the era of the contemporary migrant crisis, has set itself a great challenge and task, to preserve the national identity of its member states. In the paper, the authors presented the legal and institutional framework for the protection of basic human rights of migrants. The paper contains a special reference to respect for the constitutional rights of citizens of the countries of immigration in the age of the migrant crisis. The contemporary migrant crisis has led to an enormous increase in people smuggling, but also influenced the increase in human trafficking. In the paper, the authors point to the distinction between human smuggling as a criminal offense against public order and peace and human trafficking as a criminal offense against humanity and other goods protected by international law. In the final deliberations, it was pointed out the necessity of respecting international documents, encouraging national, regional and global cooperation, as well as public condemnation of discrimination and hate speech.

Ethiopian Journal of Developement Research , 2013

Research focusing on international migration have been conducted at various capacities ranging from academic based researches to policy-oriented researches conducted by different stakeholders. Most of the studies that are conducted in relation to the international migration from Ethiopia to the Middle East mostly focus on trafficking, causes of migration and the various human rights violation faced in the country of destination. This thesis deviates from this dominant trend due to the fact that the study focused more on addressing the challenges and rights violations in the process of migration happening at the country of origin; before departure. The study aims at understanding the various processes a migrant has to pass through and the multifaceted human rights violation migrants face during the process. These violations are mostly concealed due to the fact that the process involves number of actors such as the individual migrant, the brokers, the Private Employment Agencies (PEAs) and government institutions; specifically the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA). The role brokers and private employment agencies, and MOLSA play in the facilitation of the different processes and the various ways such institutions and the actors involved violate the rights of migrants, the main theme presented in this study is one of the main points that makes the study important. It is found that despite the existence of laws that govern the activities of such actors specially the PEAs, there is still violation on rights of migrants. The study capitalizes on the firsthand account of the individual migrants to gain their socio-economic background, place of origin, perception and narrate the process they passed through and the rights violations they encountered. The analysis of the legal framework in the country that controls the activities of the PEAs and other international instruments is also important part of the study.

IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2025

Migration is not just about geographical movement; it profoundly shapes lives and societies. This journey is driven by various factors, including escaping war, political persecution, economic opportunities, or pursuing a better life. Migration impacts both individuals and the source and destination countries. Migrants often face significant challenges, such as integration difficulties, cultural differences, and human rights violations, highlighting the need for the international community to protect migrant rights. This study examines the intricate relationship between migration and human rights, exploring social and legal aspects. It aims to raise awareness about migrants' challenges and the importance of incorporating human rights principles into migration policies.

This article proposes an epistemological decolonisation of liberal ideas of global justice which shifts emphasis from abstract morals to specific material aspects of individual and group human rights. In order to respond to the empirical needs of the contemporary South a decolonised global justice focuses on the human rights of a specific, rather than a generic, type of individual – the international migrant. More specifically, this proposal of a decolonised global justice bases the responsibility of nations towards documented and undocumented migrants on the universal material principle of ethics and the obligations of states with respect to the life of all people in every way in accordance with the general principles of the right to development. In order to establish the nature of this responsibility, the article also reinterprets the rights to movement, asylum, work and a dignified life for the formulation of rights to mobility. Keywords: global justice; human rights; migration; epistemological decolonisation; universal material principle of ethics

International Journal of Law in Context, 2010

IMISCOE Research Series, 2020

Human rights law aims to provide comprehensive legal protection for fundamental rights. However, this universalist aspiration is often not translated into reality when it comes to the treatment of migrants with irregular status. The protection human rights law affords to such migrants is often diluted-either as a matter of law, or of de facto political reality. However, human rights law can still serve as an important tool for challenging exclusionary policies directed against irregular migrants. This chapter sets out to explore when and why this can be the case. 4.2 The Universalist Orientation of Human Rights Law Human rights are supposed to be universal. By definition, they require every individual to be treated as entitled to a certain baseline level of dignified treatment, irrespective of nationality, race, gender, or any other distinguishing markers. Their universalism is affirmed by the founding text of the modern international human rights movement, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Article 1 of the Declaration states that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights", while Article 2 asserts that "everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex…national or social origin…birth or other status". Indeed, this quality of universality is often regarded as the special ingredient that (i) differentiates human rights claims from other important interests, entitlements, or values, and (ii) gives them a special prioritarian status that justifies why they

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2012

Jurnal Hukum, 2022

The reasons for this include economic, conflict and bloodshed, and a lack of political rights. However, it has been identified that the challenges in International Migrant Protection are due to different legal definitions of migrants, the fact that not all destination countries have ratified the 1951 Convention on Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, and the cultural and political context that causes people in destination countries to reject migrants.