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/INT’L MIGRANTS DAY/RIGHTS: Rich Countries Must Sign Treaty

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 2003 (IPS) - Wealthy nations that benefit from migrant labour must ratify a global treaty designed to protect those workers and their families, which to date has been confirmed only by labour-sending countries, advocates for migrants urged Thursday.

“More must be done to ensure the respect of the human rights of migrant workers and their families – be they regular or irregular, documented or undocumented,” said United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his message issued for International Migrants Day, Dec. 18.

“That is why I call on states to become parties to the International Convention on the Protection of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families,” Annan added, noting the convention is a “vital part of efforts to combat exploitation of migrant workers and their families”.

His appeal was echoed by the U.S. National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR), as well as the British-based Anti-Slavery International, which called on their governments to ratify the 1990 treaty.

The NNIRR stressed the convention is more necessary than ever before. “With the continued scapegoating and intensified law enforcement against immigrants in the U.S. ‘war on terrorism,’ it said, “we have continued to witness the devastating effects of fear, racism and xenophobia on our immigrant and refugee communities, all in the name of national security”.

In the last year, it added, “the criminalisation of immigrants has deepened as the U.S. government has entrusted immigration enforcement to the Department of Homeland Security, an agency that leaves little chance for equal protection or due process of immigrants, at a time when detention and deportation have become leading strategies in the defence of national security”.

The United Nations estimates that about three percent of the world’s population is currently living outside their country of origin. While many of these are refugees searching for safety from violence, persecution or, in some cases, natural disaster, most are seeking better economic opportunities for themselves and their families.

The current net annual flow of migrants is 2.3 million, with the largest net senders now and for the foreseeable future including China, Mexico, India, the Philippines and Indonesia. The biggest net gainers over the next half-century are projected to be the United States, Germany, Canada, Britain and Australia.

According to U.N. figures, some 60 percent of global migrants live in more developed countries, and almost one out of 10 people living in more developed regions is a migrant. The ratio of migrants in developing countries is only one in 70.

Countries with the largest number of migrants include the United States, with an estimated 35 million; Russia (13 million); Germany and Ukraine (7 million each); and France (6 million). Countries with the highest percentage of migrant stock in their total populations include the United Arab Emirates (74 percent); Kuwait (58 percent); Jordan (40 percent); Israel (27 percent); and Singapore (34 percent).

Because of their status, many migrants suffer discrimination, both in jobs that are available to them and in gaining access to social services for themselves and their families. In some cases, for example, migrants cannot receive certain kinds of welfare benefits or even education for their children, despite the fact that they often pay as much in taxes as citizens.

In addition, migrants take jobs that citizens of wealthier countries often refuse in key economic sectors, such as agriculture, construction, and domestic services.

At the same time, they are subject to racism, abuse, and even violent attacks. Undocumented migrants are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and even blackmail by unscrupulous employers, police, and immigration officials. This might be especially true for migrant women, who often become domestic servants.

Kalayaan, a migrants-right group in Britain, found last year that about one-half of migrants working as domestic servants in Britain, for example, had their passports taken by employers.

The U.N. convention provides a comprehensive framework for the protection of migrants, regardless of their legal status, from discrimination and other abuses by their countries of origin, transit countries and host nations.

Advocates of the treaty, such as the Geneva-based group, December 18, argue that the issue of international migration is largely misunderstood, particularly in northern countries whose publics often see migrants as a never-ending source of competition for jobs and a drain on government services.

“Migration is a phenomenon, not a problem,” according to a letter signed by 290 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International and December 18, and released when the convention took effect last Jul. 1.

“Without efforts to share wealth more evenly, migration will only increase. In this matter, no short-term and obvious solutions exist,” it added.

Annan stressed that migration is an inevitable by-product of globalisation and plays a key role in supporting migrants’ adopted and home countries. The vast majority of migrants contribute greatly to their new societies, and many send back remittances that support the economies of their countries of origin,” he noted.

At the same time, Annan said he was concerned about growing fear and intolerance of migrants in many countries. “In recent years,” he said, “migrants have been vilified in certain societies, while some have been denied their rights in the name of national security”.

To deal with these concerns, Annan recently helped launch the Global Commission on International Migration. The commission, to include both wealthy and poor countries, is supposed to produce a report that will recommend how countries can promote greater public understanding of migration and build a framework for increased cooperation among countries to manage it better.

Twenty-four nations have ratified the convention, including Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uganda.