|
 |
Wonderland
Vision and Painful Reality
BY
RAMESH JAURA
Imagine
a day when migrant workers and members of their families shall be free
to leave any country, including their country of origin. Their right
to life shall be protected by law. None of them shall be subjected to
torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
None of them shall be held in slavery or servitude. None shall be
required to perform forced or compulsory labour.
|
This
is the vision enshrined in the International Convention on the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 1990. Only 42 countries have
ratified the Convention, none of which include a major host country for
migrants.
The painful reality therefore is: Migrants drowning at sea after being turned
away from shore. Children detained with adults and at risk of physical and
sexual abuse. Workers cheated out of wages and confined to their workplace.
Authorities extorting bribes. Governments denying health care benefits to
those who might most need it.
In 2009 coming to a close, through field research and ongoing monitoring,
Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented human rights violations against migrant
women, men, and children in every region of the world, publishing dozens of
materials, including 14 reports.
Whether moving from the countryside to urban areas, or across oceans, deserts,
and international borders, migration carries the potential for both great
reward and great risk. For those who are lucky, migration can mean a better
life, greater freedoms, more money, and reuniting with family.
But for others, restrictive and xenophobic immigration policies, inadequate
labour protections, and barriers to justice mechanisms translate into human
rights abuses with little hope of redress.
The United Nations estimates that by mid-2010 there will be approximately 214
million international migrants worldwide, and this number swells into hundreds
of millions when internal migrants are included.
Migrant workers are often touted as modern-day heroes given the importance of
their remittances to the economies of their home countries -- an estimated 444
billion USD in 2008. But migrants are also seen as threats -- unfairly blamed
for crime or changes in demographics and culture.
Whether as heroes or criminals, government policies have typically failed to
provide comprehensive protections to migrants, often discriminating on the
basis of immigration status and national origin.
Against this backdrop, HRW has called on governments to ratify the Convention
and make stronger commitments to migrants' rights in 2010 -- particularly as
2009 has been a "bad year" for migrants around the world,
This is because the policies of many governments toward migrants worldwide
have made them victims of human rights abuses including labour exploitation,
inadequate access to health care, and prolonged detention in poor, overcrowded
conditions, Human Rights Watch said in advance of International Migrants Day,
on Dec. 18.
HRW has compiled a 25-page roundup of violations of migrants' rights this
year. Titled 'Slow Movement: Protection of Migrants' Rights in 2009', the
document includes coverage of China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel,
Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and the United
States.
Human Rights Watch showed how the United States deports large numbers of
documented migrants for nonviolent offenses with serious consequences for
family unity and fails to provide adequate health care to migrants in
detention.
WHAT GOVERNMENTS' SHOULD DO
The group is also urging governments to:
- Reform immigration policies to facilitate documented migration that protects
migrants' rights, and to clamp down on intermediaries who swindle migrants or
charge unlawful fees that leave migrants indebted and more vulnerable to
exploitation;
- Screen interdicted migrants, new arrivals, and migrants in detention in
accordance with international standards, including identifying asylum seekers,
trafficking victims, and other vulnerable people, and ensuring that
unaccompanied children are treated according to their best interests;
- Ensure access to a core minimum of health services regardless of citizenship
or social origin, and repeal discriminatory provisions mandating automatic
deportation of migrants living with HIV;
- Improve labour standards and enforcement in accordance with international
standards, including equal protection of domestic workers, and strengthen
inspection mechanisms to ensure regular payment of wages and decent working
conditions for migrants;
- Investigate abuse and killings of migrants, whether by private citizens or
government authorities, and prosecute fully through the relevant national laws
while ensuring protection for migrants against retaliation. Investigations
into abuse should be carried out irrespective of migrants' immigration or
contractual status.
Summing up the deplorable state of affairs, Nisha Varia, senior researcher in
the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, says: "Governments
seem to forget that when men, women, and children migrate, they don't leave
their rights at home. Instead of protecting people who already are at special
risk of abuse, many governments further marginalize migrants, punish them, or
push access to services out of reach."
HRW research in Greece, Italy, Libya, Egypt, and Israel showed harsh policies
toward arriving migrants, including lack of adequate screening to determine
who is a refugee, arbitrary and indefinite detention, returning persons to
countries where they risk abuse, and detention of children with adults.
Aggressive policies to thwart migrants when they try to cross borders can be
lethal, notes the study.
It finds out that both documented and undocumented migrants may face abuse or
discrimination in their host cities and countries. Human Rights Watch has
investigated pervasive mistreatment of migrant domestic workers and
construction workers in the Middle East and Russia.
Cheated by unscrupulous brokers and employers, these workers are often
subjected to excessive hours of work, unpaid wages, and confiscation of
passports. In the worst cases, their situations amount to forced labour and
trafficking.
"Migrants form the backbone of many economies, performing the labour and
services that people in their host countries depend on but won't do
themselves," Varia said underlining a well-known fact. But instead of
getting respect and the freedom and wages they are owed, they are treated as
security threats, and in general, as undesirables to be pushed out of sight,
points out the HRW roundup.
VIOLATIONS
Those apprehended for immigration offenses often face disproportionate
punishments or prolonged detention in poor conditions.
Immigration violations are sometimes treated as serious crimes, as in
Malaysia, where punishments include imprisonment and caning. The fear of
arrest and deportation also means that migrants may endure exploitative work
conditions or avoid approaching authorities to report abuse.
"Governments have a right to control their borders, but they need to do
so in a way that protects human rights," Varia said. "Migrants who
are abused are supposed to have access to legal remedies, regardless of their
immigration status."
Government attempts to control migrant populations within their territory
often include discriminatory policies that broadly restrict migrants' freedom
of movement for no legitimate purpose, Human Rights Watch said.
For example, several provinces in Thailand require migrant workers be confined
to their workplaces or homes at night and prohibit them from travelling within
the province. In countries such as Malaysia and Italy, governments have
condoned vigilante-style monitoring of migrants by civilian groups.
[Source:
IDN-InDepthNews
| Analysis That Matters]
________________________
Ramesh
Jaura is chief editor of
IDN-InDepthNews
and GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES that belong to the GLOBALOM MEDIA group.
|
