International Migrants Day

• The day aims to raise awareness about the challenges and difficulties of international migration.
• On 18 December 1990, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
• This year's theme is Harnessing the potential of human mobility.

Reason to observe this day

• In 1997, Filipino and other Asian migrant organizations began celebrating and promoting 18 December as the International Day of Solidarity with Migrants.
• This date was chosen because it was on 18 December 1990 that the UN adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
• The United Nations proclamation of the International Migrants Day is an important step, offering a rallying point for all those concerned with the protection of migrants.
• The UN invited all UN member states, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to observe this day by disseminating information on human rights and fundamental freedoms of migrants, sharing experiences, and undertaking action to ensure the protection of migrants.
• This day is seen as an opportunity to recognize the contributions made by millions of migrants to the economies of their host and home countries promotes respect for their basic human rights.

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

• This is a United Nations multilateral treaty governing the protection of migrant workers and families.
• Signed on 18 December 1990, it entered into force on 1 July 2003 after the threshold of 20 ratifying States was reached in March 2003.
• The Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) monitors implementation of the convention, and is one of the seven UN-linked human rights treaty bodies.
• This convention applies as of August 2021 in 56 countries.
• The primary objective of the Convention is to foster respect for migrants' human rights. Migrants are not only workers, they are also human beings.
• This Convention does not create new rights for migrants but aims at guaranteeing equality of treatment, and the same working conditions, including in case of temporary work, for migrants and nationals.
• This Convention innovates because it relies on the fundamental notion that all migrants should have access to a minimum degree of protection.
• This Convention recognizes that regular migrants have the legitimacy to claim more rights than irregular immigrants, but it stresses that irregular migrants must see their fundamental human rights respected, like all human beings.
• In the meantime, the Convention proposes that actions be taken to eradicate clandestine movements, notably through the fight against misleading information inciting people to migrate irregularly, and through sanctions against traffickers and employers of undocumented migrants.
• Article 7 of this Convention protects the rights of migrant workers and their families regardless of ""sex, race, colour, language, religion or conviction, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, nationality, age, economic position, property, marital status, birth, or other status"".
• Article 29 protects rights of child of migrant worker to name, to registration of birth and to a nationality.
• This Convention is also recalled by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the Preamble."