Many of 200M migrants treated as commodities

SAYS UN EXEC

MANILA, Philippines—Many of the 200 million migrants worldwide continue to be treated as commodities, violating their basic human rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on the occasion of the International Migrants Day December 18.

“Despite the increased efforts of the international community, including civil society, in promoting sound, equitable, humane and lawful conditions of migration, the human rights of migrants often remain out of sight,” Navi Pillay said in a statement released by the UN office in Manila.

She was particularly worried about the situation of migrant domestic workers and children.

Pillay thus called for all nations—both of origin or destination—to implement gender-sensitive laws to ensure that protection measures specified in international labor standards are extended to migrant domestic workers.

“We also call on governments to curb abuses of recruitment agencies, enhance legal channels for migration, and open up judicial mechanisms to victims of abuse, regardless of their immigration status,” she said.

Noting that no international convention that is specific to domestic workers in existence, the official said she hopes that the protection gap can be closed.

The situation of migrant children, especially those who are unaccompanied and at risk of being smuggled or trafficked, is worrisome, she pointed out.

“We urge all states to integrate a child rights-based approach in migration laws, policies, and programs,” Pillay said, urging nations to provide access to education, health care, and birth registration to all children.

“It is important to recall that all migrants are protected by human rights and labor standards,” she emphasized, with migrant children being equally entitled to all the rights granted under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. –Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net