Human Rights of Migrants
Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid
Ra'ad Al Hussein at the Interactive Dialogue on the Human Rights of Migrants at
the 29th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, 15 June 2015
Mr President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Colleagues,
I am
grateful for the opportunity to share with you my growing alarm at the
international community's failure to protect the rights of migrants. As I have
repeatedly highlighted at this Council, conflict, persecution, bad governance
and severe violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights
force millions of people to leave their countries and seek safety and
opportunity elsewhere. Too often, they are met with more exploitation, discrimination
and violence, coupled with harshly enforced refusals to permit entry.
Whether or
not they have visas, these are people, with the same human rights as all of us
here today. They have faces: young and old, women and men, and children – accompanied
or, in many cases, separated from their parents. They flee atrocities; biting
poverty; places with no access to even basic services, and where the rule of
law is broken. I am shocked and shamed
by the frequent demonization of migrants that we see in many countries whose
people benefit from prosperity, peace and ease. I call on all of you to take a
stand against this very dangerous trend.
Mr President,
When people
are unable to use regular channels to escape oppression, violence and economic
despair, they may attempt, in desperation, to find irregular ones. This does
not make them criminals. It does not withdraw their right to be treated with
dignity. On the contrary, their vulnerability cries out for humanity – an
approach that is motivated by respect for their plight, and for their
fundamental rights as human beings.
I also
oppose in the strongest possible terms the notion that migrants are a
burden. On the contrary, as workers,
consumers and taxpayers, they contribute to the economic growth of all
societies, as many studies have demonstrated.
Many years ago, UNHCR distributed a poster showing Albert Einstein’s
face, and above it, this text: “A bundle of belongings isn’t the only thing a
refugee brings to his new country.” I would like all of us to reflect for a
moment on the courage, the endurance, the adaptability and the grit that
refugees and migrants deploy. Migration is an essential component of the
economic and social life of every modern State, and it has shaped the history
of virtually every member of the human family. Few in this room can claim that
they, or their ancestors, have not benefited from migration.
And yet
throughout the world, many vulnerable migrants must live and work in intensely
precarious situations, and are too afraid of the authorities to complain. Often
they are denied fundamental rights, including workers' rights, and are the
targets of discrimination and abuse. All of us are aware of the lethal crises
regarding rescue at sea in Europe and South-East Asia. Our concerns must extend
also to those attempting to enter Australia and the United States, and to the
abuses of migrants that are so frequent throughout the world – including many
countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council – as well as shocking recent violence
in South Africa.
Mr President,
The
death-toll of migrants in the Mediterranean is a cause for profound alarm. It
demonstrates conclusively that militarised deterrence and enforcement policies
will fail. If no other option is available, then – just as many Europeans have
done, in similar circumstances, in the past – people will brave terrible peril
to seek safety for themselves and their children. Driven to take ever more
dangerous routes, they may fall into the hands of trafficking networks – with
high risk of violence, kidnapping and extortion, and other severe human rights
violations.
I commend
the EU's recent determination to tackle migration in a more comprehensive
manner, and the newly intensified search and rescue effort in the
Mediterranean. But I would welcome far
bolder steps to integrate the notion that the EU needs, and should welcome,
more migration at all skill-levels. As the Special Rapporteur on the Human
Rights of Migrants has noted – and we will hear from François Crépeau shortly –
it is well within the EU’s means to give refuge, over a number of years, to one
million refugees displaced by the conflicts in Syria and elsewhere. This would
represent barely 0.2% of the EU's population – compared to Lebanon, which has
taken in 26% of its population in refugees. The resources currently deployed
for ineffective border control systems could instead be invested in maximizing
the benefit of regular migration channels.
States are
at liberty to open their borders to migrant labour, or to close them. But when
they are unwilling to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of
the Rights of Migrant Workers, this may encourage employers to exploit them,
especially when they are undocumented. I urge full implementation by all EU
States of the rights, including labour rights and human rights, of all migrants
and migrant workers.
I also urge
leaders to step up to counter the growing bigotry about migrants, which is
often suffused with racism and religious hatred and stirred up for political
gain. Theirs is a continent haunted by the spectre of the world's most
intricately organized, terrifyingly efficient, genocide. Every European leader – indeed, every
European – knows that racial and religious prejudice is combustible: it can,
and will if not treated properly, burst into firestorms of violence.
Mr President,
There are
inescapable similarities between the crises in the Mediterranean and in the
seas off South-East Asia. For many years, people have been fleeing persecution
in Myanmar and poverty in Bangladesh, notably via trafficking and smuggling
rings. This exodus became far more visible last month, when a crackdown on
illegal trafficking in Thailand led captains and crew to abandon ships that
were filled with passengers. A number of boats were pushed back as they reached
the shores of neighbouring countries, and hundreds of people have died at sea.
In addition, mass graves were discovered last month in Thailand and Malaysia,
containing the bodies of presumed victims of human trafficking and smuggling
gangs. Most of these victims are said to have been Rohingya from Myanmar.
In recent
years Myanmar has undertaken important and potentially transformative reforms,
accelerating economic development and relaxing restrictions on civil and
political rights. But these advances have not been matched with progress regarding
the acute and institutionalised discrimination against the Rohinyga, or the
broader deficit of development in Rakhine State which affects all communities.
Most of the
1.3 million Rohingya are deprived of citizenship. Within Rakhine State, their
movement is sharply restricted, with immediate impact on their ability to
access services, farmland and employment of almost any kind. My Office has also
documented persistent allegations of summary executions, enforced
disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual violence of Rohinyga
people by security officials.
This
pattern of persecution must be considered a driver of the Rohingya exodus. I
also fear that it could attract the interest of extremists, as witnessed in
recent statements by the Afghan and Pakistan Taliban, with potentially
disastrous consequences.
Mr. President,
Australia’s
response to migrant arrivals has set a poor benchmark for its regional
neighbours. The authorities have also engaged in turn-arounds and push-backs of
boats in international waters. Asylum-seekers are incarcerated in centres in
Papua New Guinea and Nauru, where they face conditions that the Special
Rapporteur on Torture has reported as amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment as defined by CAT. They also violate the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, as the Australian Human Rights Commission has justifiably declared.
Even recognized refugees in urgent need of protection are not permitted to
enter Australia, which has set up relocation arrangements with countries that
may be ill-prepared to offer them any durable solution.
Such
policies should not be considered a model by any country. Given that most of
today's Australians themselves descend from migrants – and given that the
country maintains sizeable regular programs for migration and resettlement – I
am bewildered by the hostility and contempt for these women, men and children
that is so widespread among the country's politicians.
Mr President,
Last year,
US President Barack Obama called the situation of unaccompanied children
crossing the border between the United States and Mexico a "humanitarian
crisis", as their number increased sharply and conditions worsened. Most of them were fleeing uncontrolled
violence by criminal gangs in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, as well as
deprivation, social exclusion and discrimination.
So far this
year, their number has approximately halved. One factor in this decline has
been the increasing militarisation of Mexico's southern borders. But this has
not been accompanied by improvements in the countries of origin regarding the
conditions which push them to migrate. Resolution of this situation needs
focused attention to the why of migration, not just the how. Where there is
accountability, rule of law, inclusion, respect for people's rights to
fundamental services, the opportunity for self-expression and economic
improvement, people do not risk their lives, or risk the lives of their
children, in seeking to flee.
I also note
that the United States maintains the largest immigration detention
infrastructure in the world, at a cost of some $2 billion per year. Migrants in
detention often suffer inadequate conditions, including lack of health care,
violence and overcrowding. Alternatives to detention are urgently needed. In
particular, the detention of children based on their migrant status constitutes
a violation of the rights of the child; it is never in the best interest of a
child to be detained.
Mr President,
The
countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council benefit massively from the
contributions of migrant workers. Yet we observe pervasive violations of their
rights in several countries, including physical abuse; inadequate and
arbitrarily withheld wages; inhuman working hours and working conditions;
confiscation of passports; and unsafe housing. There is frequently no effective
mechanism where abused migrants can seek redress. Their death toll is so high
that in Nepal, a source of many migrant workers in GCC countries, it has been
proposed that an annex be erected at the Katmandu airport to shelter returning
coffins.
I must
firmly remind the authorities of the GCC, and employers active in their
countries, that they are required under international law to comply with human
rights and labour rights standards for migrant workers. Failure to do so is
shocking, particularly in countries that rely so extensively on their help. The
Kafala sponsorship system, which enables multiple abuses of migrants' human
rights and labour rights, should be repealed as a matter of urgency, and
private recruitment agencies should be properly regulated.
Mr President,
I am deeply
concerned about recent violence in South Africa, in which seven people were
killed, hundreds injured and thousands displaced. Xenophobic attacks, including
hate speech that incites violence and intolerance, merit public condemnation
and prosecution. I trust the authorities will take strong action to avoid
repeated incidents of this kind, and that they will uphold the rights of all
people in their country.
I am also
concerned about plans to expel large numbers of undocumented Haitians from the
Dominican Republic. I urge the Dominican authorities to ensure that the human
rights of all migrants are fully respected, and that due process is followed,
in compliance with human rights obligations. Individuals with a legitimate
claim to remain in the Dominican Republic should be protected from deportation.
Mr. President,
The only effective approach to migration must
be grounded in the human rights of the people concerned, focusing on root
causes – including in countries of origin and transit – and long-term
solutions. With so many countries locked in internal conflict, from Syria and
Iraq to Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Mali, the task of re-establishing peace,
justice and the rule of law is increasingly urgent. I have made numerous
appeals for States to use their global influence to pull back from this
intensely worrying series of crises.
But
conflict is not the only driver of migration. Numerous Eritreans are fleeing
their country, with data from last year suggesting more than 5,000 people leave
every month. They constitute the second
largest number of refugees at the EU's external borders, including large
numbers of unaccompanied minors who have survived a very hazardous journey. The
international community must recognise their plight and provide them
protection, and I encourage your attention to the causes of their flight..
I also
encourage this Council to consider convening Special Sessions on migration
issues in the future, as the need arises.
It is,
moreover, vital that States address, both singly and together, the economic
despair that drives so many to risk death to escape the prison of their
poverty. The Sustainable Development Goals constitute a life-saving agenda to
drive stronger development. They must be funded – and implemented – in good
faith by all Governments. Full implementation of recommendations by human
rights mechanisms, including the UPR, would also ensure less biting inequality
and more respect for human rights. Fundamentally, this task is in your hands.
ENDS
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