A/HRC/7/12 page 6 jurisdiction”.5 States have the responsibility and, indeed, the obligation to respect and protect the human rights of all those within its territory, nationals and non-nationals alike, regardless of mode of entry or migratory status.6 In general, the rights set forth in the Covenant apply to everyone, irrespective of reciprocity, and irrespective of nationality or statelessness. 15. Despite the international standards designed to offer protection to all individuals, the Special Rapporteur would like to draw attention to the increasing criminalization of irregular migration and the abuses of migrants during all phases of the migration process. This criminalization is linked in many countries to persistent anti-migrant sentiments, which is often reflected in policies and institutional frameworks designed to manage migratory flows, often in a purely restrictive manner. The Special Rapporteur has received reports of the criminal justice practices used by States to combat irregular migration, including greater criminalization of migration offences (as opposed to treating them as an administrative offence) and cross-national collaboration by police and other authorities, which have in certain cases resulted in increased violations against migrants. 16. These general trends can be grouped into two broad categories - externalization of migration control policies and criminalization of labour migration. Within these categories it is relevant to further examine three specific sub-issues: violations against irregular migrants pertaining to interception and rescue at sea, detention and expulsion, and smuggling and trafficking, which will be discussed in terms of the applicable legal framework for protection and the general trends observed. The Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize that this report is not intended to excuse irregular migration, nor encourage it, but rather to underscore the importance of States to adhere to international human rights standards during engagement with all migrants, whether documented or not. Accordingly, States should take measures to further promote legal migratory channels and provide assistance in the process. 2. Externalization of migration control policies 17. For decades, many States have responded to persistent irregular migration by intensifying border controls. State measures of border enforcement, anti-trafficking initiatives and immigration control measures have ranged from an increased use of the armed forces or military methods of policing the border, confiscation of the proceeds of trafficking, tougher sanctions against the employers of undocumented migrants and commercial carriers that bring to their borders foreigners without proper documentation, radar surveillance, and detention and expulsion of unwanted aliens.7 This has also involved, inter alia, fingerprinting, the erection of 5 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 15: The position of aliens under the Covenant, paragraph 1, in reference to ICCPR article 2, paragraph 1. 6 Note also that article 16 of the ICCPR, as well as article 24 of the International Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, in very broad terms, grant the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law, which pertains to all people in any territory, regardless of status. 7 Maggy Lee, “Human trade and the criminalisation of irregular migration”, International Journal of the Sociology of Law, vol. 33: 1 (March 2005).