9 September 2013
Experts Review Human Rights, Health Protection for Migrants
story highlights

Experts discussed mainstreaming a human rights approach to migration, and protecting and promoting the human rights of migrants, including the right to health, at a meeting organized by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in Geneva, Switzerland.

OHCHR 24 September 2013: Experts discussed mainstreaming a human rights approach to migration, and protecting and promoting the human rights of migrants, including the right to health, at a recent meeting organized by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in Geneva, Switzerland.

Representatives of the Governments of Bangladesh, Mexico, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Amnesty International, took part in two panel discussions. The half-day meeting was held in preparation for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, taking place in New York, US, on 3-4 October 2013.

In remarks to the meeting, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for migrants to have access to health care, justice and education, as well as the right to participate in decisions that directly affect them. She said there are 215 million migrants around the world, a number equivalent to the world’s fifth-largest country. She identified rising inequalities as the reason for migration.

In conjunction with the meeting, the OHCHR released a report titled, ‘Improving the Human Rights-Based Governance of International Migration.’ While affirming the work of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), the report observes that no single international organization has a comprehensive mandate on all aspects of migration. The report recommends establishing a standing panel on migration and human rights within the UNGA or UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to enable stakeholders to interact on issues including: the human rights of smuggled migrants; labor abuses; discrimination; migrants in conflict and disaster situations; and the situation of women and child migrants. The report recommends creating human rights indicators specifically relating to migrants and migration, which it suggests could help inform discussions around the post-2015 development agenda.

In addition, earlier this year, OHCHR, IOM and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a joint report on ‘International Migration, Health and Human Rights.’ The report reviews human rights laws protecting migrants irrespective of their legal status, and calls for states to provide migrants with better access to health services. [Meeting Agenda] [OHCHR ress Release] [Publication: Migration and Human Rights: Improving Human Rights-Based Governance of International Migration] [Publication: International Migration, Health and Human Rights]


related events