In cooperation with the NGO Committee on Migration

Migration and Development Series 2010
Panel Discussion on the occassion of International Migrants Day

In observance of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW)

Friday, 17 December 2010, UNHQ

PROGRAMME

BACKGROUND

Twenty years ago in New York, on 18 December 1990, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”). With this cornerstone treaty, the General Assembly reinforced the international legal framework concerning the guardianship of human rights established by additional legal instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It did so adopting a comprehensive instrument applicable to the whole migration process and regulating the legal status of migrant workers and their families. The Convention protects the basic rights of all migrant workers and their families and grants regular migrants a number of additional rights on the basis of equality with nationals. It further provides a framework for interstate cooperation on migration issues. It is complemented by two ILO Conventions on migration for employment (C-97 and C-143) that provide specific standards regarding migrant worker employment and occupation.

In conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the Convention, and the celebrations for the 11th International Migrants Day, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the MacArthur Foundation and the NGO Committee on Migration organized this panel to assess the achievements of the Convention, its implications for ratifying States and its effects on the lives of migrant workers and their families.

The panel featured expert presentations and analyzed the Convention, the status of its ratification process and the implications for national migration policies as well as the implementation status of its principles. Moreover, it explored the nexus between the protection of human rights and the development potentials of migration both for countries of origin and destination.

Copies of presentations can be found here.

REGISTRATION

If you have questions about the event, please contact Ms. Amy Muedin at amuedin@iom.int or Tel: (212) 681-7000 ext. 212.