“States need to put in place comprehensive, individual rights-based labour migration insurance policies along migration corridors within and from Asia and the Pacific as an alternative to restrictive, and perhaps exploitative, temporary programmes”. Citing International Organization for Immigration ( IOM ) estimates, they said that over thirty-five, 000 migrants have died or disappeared since 2014 .
Misleading claims
The report, We wanted workers, yet human beings came , released just ahead of International Migrants Day , zeroes-in on schemes in operation across the Asia-Pacific region – the largest single migrant-producing area in the world. “ They should not be expected to give up their rights in return for being able to migrate for function, however crucial it is on their behalf and their families , as well as for the economies of their nations of origin and destination”, Mr. Türk underscored. Special Rapporteurs and impartial experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or even a country situation. The roles are honorary and the professionals are not paid for their function. However , there are no exact numbers on the proportion of enforced disappearances in cases involving Condition agents or people performing with the authorization, support or even acquiescence of countries. Click here for your names of the experts who signed this statement.
Case studies
They blamed States’ rigid border management plus migration policies for many disappearances, citing policies that include blanket refusals of entry; criminalization of migration; and required, automatic, or extensive usage of immigration detention; and arbitrary expulsions. “ Measures that curtail human rights cannot be justified simply by arguing that migrants’ immigration status is temporary , nor can States delegate to employers and other personal actors their obligation as duty-bearers to ensure the human rights of all migrant workers plus members of their families”, stressed Mr. Türk.
No time for praise
As part of some seasonal schemes, migrants are expected to work on Saturdays and Sundays, leaving them no time to attend religious services. The particular report details how oftentimes temporary work schemes inflict a range of unacceptable human legal rights restrictions. But information indicates that most disappearances occur during detention or deportation proceedings or even because of migrant smuggling or even trafficking. Prior to Sunday’s International Migrants Day , nearly a dozen UN-appointed independent human rights experts called on States to urgently accelerate efforts to deal with the enforced disappearance associated with migrants. The experts called on nations, individual rights mechanisms, and others to participate efforts in preventing enforced disappearance.
Enforced disappearances
© ILO/Bobot Go Workers install electrical cables in South Luzon, Philippines. “Mutual help and cooperation are crucial to finding disappeared migrants, looking into their disappearances, accompanying their own families and relatives during these procedures, as well as protecting and stopping this heinous crime, ” the experts said, flagging the advantages of “interconnected data collection plus information systems”.
Moreover, policies that will exclude them from govt support in some countries put migrants at a disproportionate danger of COVID-19 infection, the particular report says.
Cooperation is ‘key’
The UN rights professionals stressed that States must coordinate in preventing the particular yearly disappearances of thousands of migrants on the way . “Effective plus systematic coordination among countries along the route is therefore urgently needed”, they said in a statement . “Specific attention must be paid towards the needs of women and children, especially unaccompanied children, that are direct and indirect victims of these crimes, ” someone said. The Committee on Unplaned Disappearances started its first-ever General Comment in the context of migration to guide States on their legal obligations and offer measures to protect migrants. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances has begun its first-ever General Comment treatment in the context of immigration, to guide States on their legal obligations and offer measures to protect migrants. In another, certain designated “family zones” can not be rented to temporary migrant workers as the workers are not permitted to migrate with their families.
Rigid policies
It highlights how migrant workers are often forced to live in overloaded and unsanitary housing, unable to afford nutritious food, denied adequate healthcare, and encounter prolonged and sometimes mandatory separation from their families. Some migrant construction employees report receiving substandard health care in clinics provided by their own employers.
Migrants are particularly at risk during what are frequently arduous journeys just aiming to reach their destination.
Worrying craze
Migrant workers onboard a Thai fishing vessel. Migrant domestic workers in other States have documented being told they would be fired, if they prayed or fasted while at work. Every year, large numbers leave their countries under temporary labour migration programs that promise economic advantages for destination countries and development dividends to countries of origin.
The experts
The report cites the example of one un-named State, which requires federal government permission to marry citizens or permanent residents. “These factors encourage migrants to take more dangerous routes, to place their lives in the fingers of smugglers and to expose themselves to a higher risk of human rights violations and enforced disappearance”, the experts said.
