A/HRC/7/12 page 21 the protection of migrant workers’ rights and on the link between migration and human rights; it provides very useful guidance for States on how to ensure that migration takes place in humane and equitable conditions. In particular, States should review their expulsion procedures and harmonize them with the Convention, which offers the most comprehensive protection for non-nationals in this regard. 63. States should review their national policies to harmonize them with existing regional and subregional agreements on labour mobility. This should be done with a view to evaluating which national policies are restrictive in this sense, and what practical implications restrictive national frameworks have for the human rights of migrants, both documented and not, as well as for the obstacles it places on promoting the free movement of labour which might have positive consequences for the national economy. 64. All cases of persons involved in the interception of migrants at sea, whether irregular migrants or those involved in the rescue or transport of migrants found to be irregular, should be treated on an individual basis and granted the basic right to due process. Persons believed to be smuggled or trafficked should be brought before an independent judge without the involvement of the country of origin; States should renew their cooperation in protecting witnesses and victims who assist in identification and prosecution of smugglers and traffickers. Persons claiming international protection should be allowed to enter the national asylum procedure without delay. 65. States should take measures to review their national laws applicable to the detention of migrants to ensure that they are harmonized with international human rights norms that prohibit inhumane treatment and ensure due process. States should take measures to ensure that detention of irregular migrants is not arbitrary and that there is a national legal framework to govern detention procedures and conditions. States should develop and implement systems of alternatives to detention in the context of flows of undocumented migration - which could provide strong procedural safeguards including the obligation to have a judge decide on the legality of detention and on the continuing existence of reasons for detention - and generally permit detention only as a last resort. Building national capacities 66. States should further develop and implement training and awareness-raising programmes for border authorities, officials at detention centres, police and military officers, and government officials on the human rights afforded to irregular migrants during all phases of the migration stage including, inter alia, interception and rescue at sea, detention and expulsion, and smuggling and trafficking, where applicable. 67. States should consider establishing an independent body at the regional level that can help monitor the effectiveness of certain policies contributing to the externalization of border controls. This might be in the form of enhancing the capacity of an already existing academic or policy institute or by forming stronger ties with the data and monitoring sections of existing regional systems of human rights protection (e.g. the Inter-American System for Human Rights, the Council of Europe, or the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights), where applicable.

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