UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : HRC 53 - SR on on the Human Rights of Migrants

Excellencies, colleagues, we will now begin the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.

The list of speakers will close in 15 minutes.

And now let me give the floor to Mr Felipe Gonzalez Morales to present his report.

Sir, you have the floor.

[Other language spoken]

President, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I'm honoured to be here today and to address you as the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.

Today, after six years serving as the Special Rapporteur, I would like to thank Member States, UN agencies, civil society organisations, national human rights institutions and our stakeholders for their significant support to the mandate.

I would also like to thanks to thank all countries who have accepted my requests for visits, as well as those who have dedicated their time to share their views and lived experiences with me throughout the past six years.

Before addressing the main aspects of the reports presented to this session, namely A thematic study on regularisation of migrants and country reports on Bangladesh, Belarus and Poland, I would like to make some reflections about the issues that I have addressed as Special Rapporteur during the past six years.

First, I was very lucky that the beginning of my Monday took place at the time of the initial stage of preparation of the Global Compact for a safe, regular and ordered immigration.

This gave me the opportunity to participate at all the stages of the process of preparation, adoption and initial implementation of this instrument.

The Compact represents a key development and enhances the basis for a multilateral approach on migration, which is indispensable to address the complexities of migration governance.

Based on the main international instruments on human rights, the Compact is a step forward for the protection of migrants.

While the pandemic presented a great obstacle for the implementation of the Compact now, it is foreseeable that it should become soon a key instrument in practise.

[Other language spoken]

President, or this year's, through my thematic reports to this Council and the General Assembly, I have tried to provide a comprehensive view of some of the most relevant aspects for the protection of the human rights of migrants, which remain a challenge today.

These relate to return and reintegration, access to justice, gender perspective, freedom of association of migrants, ending migratory attention of children, push backs and human rights violations of the international borders, the COVID-19 pandemic and migration, climate change and migration, regularisation and labour rights of migrants.

These issues are part of the difficult context that migrants have to confront nowadays around the world.

Despite efforts by many countries, UN agencies, the civil society and other actors in many places, the human rights of migrants remain frequently violated, often in grave ways.

In this regard, I would like to stress a few messages.

First, while security is a legitimate concern, it should not be addressed at the cost of violating the human rights of migrants.

Broad regulations on security, which give discretion to state authorities, quickly lead to arbitrariness and lack of accountability for human rights abuses.

As international human rights treaties established, human rights should be at the centre of state policies, including migration policies.

Second, there is a need to achieve migration policies, policies which are consistent over time.

In many states, migration policies are extremely volatile, changing not only from 1 government to the next, but even when no change of government has taken place.

These places migrants in very vulnerable situations.

3rd, it is important to continue enhancing multilateral initiatives on migration, following the route set by the 2016 New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants and the Global Compact for Migration.

These multilateral initiatives should be coherent with international human rights law and standards.

And 4th, it is indispensable to continue strengthening a gender perspective of migration to follow up the commitments under the Global Compact.

Distinguished Delegates, My Memory Board submitted to this Council includes A thematic study on how to expand and diversify regularisation mechanisms and programmes to enhance the protection of the human rights of migrants.

Expanding pathways for regular migration and guaranteeing temporary regularisation leading to permanent mechanisms in destination countries represent the session Aspects of the global comfort of migration.

Before presenting the key findings of the report, I wish to thank Member States, UN entities, national human rights institutions, society organisations and academics for the substantive inputs provided for the study.

Migration can bring positive and empowering experiences to migrants, their families and their communities, both in countries of origin and destination.

Yet many undocumented migrants continue to struggle due to the lack of regular migration status.

They live and work in critical circumstances and may be disproportionately subjected to discrimination, *****, exploitation and marginalisation.

The report recognises the complexity of factors leaning toward irregular migration, which is often a consequence of limited regular pathways.

The majority of the world's migrants arrive in destination countries through regular channels and become irregular at a later stage owing to unclear or overly bureaucratic migration, posters, discrimination or practical impediments.

Regardless of the circumstances that led them to regularity, the enjoyment of their human rights is negatively affected, including access to healthcare, education and social services, adequate housing, labour rights and social protection.

Moreover, the lack of regular status often prevents them from rewarding violations out of fear of deportation.

The intersection between migration and other forms of discrimination and the false connection of irregularity to criminalisation further exacerbate their vulnerability.

Distinguished delegates in Mathematics Study I examined how to address the situations of vulnerability by creating and strengthening regularisation mechanisms.

Regularisation procedures improve migrants access to social protection, healthcare, this network, education, adequate living conditions and family reunification.

Regular migration status also protects migrants from detention and deportation, decreases the likelihood of exploitation and facilitates their access to justice while enabling them to participate fully in society.

Therefore, regularisation is a protection and inclusion tool that benefits migrants, their families, destination countries and communities.

Regularisation procedures should be people centred, child sensitive, gender responsive and trauma informed and must be accompanied by policies to oppose discrimination and xenophobia.

[Other language spoken]

President, I welcome information receiving and promising practises in different countries and regions to assign and implement regularisation processes.

Many States have adopted programmes, mechanism and initiatives for the regularisation of migrants.

However, most of these initiatives provide only temporary residents.

Based on with the good practises and in view of the challenges faced by migrants in irregular situations, my report offers a set of recommendations.

First, I urge Member States to strengthen the legal framework for the protection of all migrants, regardless of their status, in line with international human rights standards.

Regularisation processes should focus on promoting access to permanent residents and pathways to citizenship.

Administrative procedures should be clear, efficient, affordable and accessible, and should be assigned and implemented in consultation with civil society organisations.

I strongly recommend states to implement integration policies that promote the inclusion of all migrants.

Governments should also focus on addressing the root causes that drive people to migrate irregularly.

Finally, urge states to put an end to the criminalisation of irregular migrants and promote solidarity to change the narrative of migration and combat xenophobia, racism and discrimination.

[Other language spoken]

In 2022, I conducted an official visit to Poland from 12th to 15 July and 21st to 25th July.

During this.

I also visited Belarus from 16th to 20 July to examine the situation of migrants at the border between the two countries.

The findings of these visits are addressed in two separate addendums to the main to my main report.

I wish to thank the authorities of Belarus and Poland for the constructive dialogue and the cooperation extended before, during and after my visit.

I also thank relevant United Nations agencies and civil society organisations for the valuable support.

I would like to extend my gratitude to every migrant and refugee who shared his or her personal testimony with me.

[Other language spoken]

Several months after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in February 2022, millions of refugees had crossed the Polish Ukrainian borders seeking safety in Europe, and approximately 2,000,000 remained in Poland.

In response to this unprecedented situation, the Polish Parliament passed an Act on Assistant for Ukrainian Nationals in connection with the Invasion of Ukraine, allowing the legal state of Ukrainians and their spouses in Poland for 18 months and enabling them their access to healthcare, labour market education and social assistance and benefits.

I take this opportunity to once again commend there for some timely action of the Government of Poland, of Poland in admitting, assisting and integrating Ukrainian refugees since the outbreak of the war.

Tributes should be paid to Polish citizens for opening their doors and sharing their resources and space with their Ukrainian guests.

However, third country nationals from the same world cannot benefit from the wide range of support and financial aid designated for Ukrainians, as the applicable legal framework and entitlements are not the same for non Ukrainians.

I repeatedly expressed my concern in relation to this twofold approach and recommended Polish authorities to ensure the protection and systems of third country nationals without discrimination.

[Other language spoken]

President, tensions at the Belarusian the Polish border arose in the summer of 2021 following a significant increase of visitors with Belarusian tourist group visas arriving in Minsk from countries of the Middle East of the Middle East.

Since then, thousands of third country nationals have attempted to enter Poland and the EU by crossing its border with Belarus.

The escalation of tensions at the border triggered the adoption of policies on both sides that have negatively affected the human rights of migrants, including the use of pushback practises in both Belarus and Poland.

In Poland, based on legislative provisions adopted in 2021, migrants apprehended after crossing the border have been immediately returned to the border and forced back to Belarus.

Those who were not returned were placed in guarded detention centres by run by the police border guard.

In Belarus, migrants were sheltered in a logistics centre near the Bruschi border crossing and most of them were not allowed to leave unless they were headed towards Poland.

As a result, hundreds of migrants, including families and children, have been stranded at the border, unable to enter Poland and prevent them from re entering Belarus.

They were forced to stay in the forests exposed to extreme extreme cold during the winter without access to food, shelter, clean water, warm clothes and sanitation facilities or any form of assistance.

I was particularly concerned about allegations of the use of violence by the border guards of both countries while pushing migrants back and forth despite despite the evidence gathered during my visits, both states denied allegations of abusive and violent practise by their own border guards, which has resulted in the lack of internal investigations leading to impunity.

[Other language spoken]

Pushback practises at the border have cost migrant lives.

Deaths on both sides of the border have been reported since 2021 and until the time of finalising the report, Belarus and Poland should take all reasonable precautionary steps to protect life and to prevent excessive use of force.

I urge both states to cooperate to save lives and conduct prompt, thorough and transparent investigations into each death and each allegation of violence.

It is also important that both countries grant full access to a border area, to civil society organisations and independent monitoring mechanisms.

The situation of migrants at the Belarusian Polish border reflects the geopolitical crisis in the region.

I firmly condemn the use of migrants as a political tool.

Migrants should not be used or sacrificed to find solutions.

I call upon Belarus, Poland and the European Union to conduct constructive dialogue, most importantly to prevent further loss of life and ensure that protection of the human rights of migrants is at the centre of any solution adopted.

[Other language spoken]

President, this year I conducted an official visit to Bangladesh from 20 to 31st January.

I would like to thank the Government for its valuable cooperation throughout the preparation and the conduct of the visit.

I wish to thank all stakeholders who took the time to meet and share information with me.

I'm also grateful for the excellent support provided by the United Nations Country team.

Bangladesh is a major labour sending country with over 11,000,000 Bangladeshis present in North 160 countries, particularly in the Middle East region and state members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

Despite the significant work made by the government to adopt legislative and policy measures to regulate labour migration, I was concerned by remaining gaps relating to unfair and unethical recruitment practises that lead to exploitation of aspiring migrant workers at the pre departure stage.

The **** cost of migration continues to be problematic, and the vulnerability of many migrants to exploitation, trafficking and other form of human rights abuses need to be effectively addressed.

Reports of widespread human rights abuses in countries of destination continue, including abuses instigated within the kafala system against domestic workers.

I was particularly concerned to receive information on the deaths of migrant workers, of which a significant number are women.

Bangladesh has implemented initiatives to provide support to grieving families, including financial support, but many host countries do not provide any means of compensation.

I also received reports on missing migrants and the challenges faced by families in Bangladesh in attempting to locate the relatives abroad.

The lack of investigation and prosecution for human rights abuses in countries of destination is very concerning.

I urge countries of destination to conduct a continual through thorough monitoring of the conditions of migrants, particularly women in the domestic service sector.

A key step to preventing such violations, as I repeatedly stated in several reports and in communications to countries in the Middle East region, is to move towards the abrogation of the kafala system.

[Other language spoken]

President, I wish to command, I wish to commend the Government on its openness to receiving around 1,000,000 Rohingyas in the aftermath of violence in the Rakhine State in Myanmar, essentially saving many lives in the process.

However, I also expressed my concern about the lack of legal status for Rohingyas, both Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Rohingyas remain vulnerable to many human rights violations, including abuses and insecurity within the refugee camps.

In Cox Bazar, I observed the extremely poor conditions of housing and the susceptibility of the camps to obstructive impact of climate change.

Some Rohingyas have tried to leave the campus the camps only to become victims of trafficking, exploitation, sexual violence and attacks.

There is a need for stronger cooperation between Bangladesh and countries of destination to ensure strong rights based and forcible agreements for migrant workers.

While the report takes notes on the positive initiatives adopted by the government in relation to Rohingya, I emphasise that that durable solution for all Rohingya refugees remains critical.

This is a multilateral efforts that continue to require the essential support of our governments and development partners.

Now, I look forward for an interactive discussion and I am open for your questions and comments.

I thank you for your contention.

HRC 53 - SR on on the Human Rights of Migrants - 26 June 2023