A/HRC/17/44 meetings conducted with United Nations partners, in particular UNHCR and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and analysis of various reports.158 2. Applicable law 193. The term “migrant worker” refers to any person who “is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national” as defined by article 2 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. This Convention contains a range of human rights protections including general rights such as the right to life (art. 9), the prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 10), the right to liberty and security of person (art. 16), and the right to be treated with humanity when deprived of liberty (art. 17), as well as rights of more particular application to migrant workers.159 The Convention explicitly includes an obligation for the State to protect migrant workers and their families from “violence, physical injury, threats and intimidation, whether by public officials or by private individuals, groups or institutions” (art. 16, para. 2). Importantly, obligations owed under international human rights law apply to migrant workers, including rights against racial discrimination under the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.160 Migrant workers are also civilians entitled to the protections afforded to civilians under international humanitarian law and international criminal law. 3. Factual findings161 194. The Commission received information reporting that both Government forces and armed opposition forces raided houses of sub-Saharan migrants, threatening them and giving them deadlines to leave Libya. The Commission also received information that armed civilians entered into private houses at night, mistreating and harassing the subSaharan population. Migrant workers trying to leave Libya to the east and to the west reported facing the same difficulties, including being regularly stopped and violently harassed at multiple checkpoints.162 Some reported being beaten and many stated they had property (such as mobile phones) taken from them at gunpoint. 163 158 159 160 161 162 163 interviews were adults and five were women. Many accounts were second-hand, with a smaller number of interviewees giving information of their personal experience. In particular, see OCHA Report, Initial Assessment of Migrant Workers from Libya in Tunisia, OCHA, Tunisia, 18 March 2011. Available from http://northafrica.humanitarianresponse.info/Portals/0/Reports/Assessment/IA%20Assessment%20Re port-%20Choucha%20Camp%20%20March%2022,%202011(f).pdf. Such specialized rights include the right not to be subject to unauthorized confiscation or destruction of identity cards (art. 21) or to be subject to collective punishment or expulsion (art. 22). The Convention also includes provisions with respect to equality of treatment with respect to a range of economic rights and additional rights for those who are documented or in a regular situation (see part IV). A minority of human rights are not applicable to non-citizens, such as political rights under the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This section of the report is focused on cases where the source identified the violation as being motivated by the person‟s identity as a foreign national. Other cases of violations against migrant workers are included in other sections of the report. The number of checkpoints is reported to be much higher in the west. An OCHA report has revealed that on average migrant workers were stopped 10 times during their travel and reported at up to 100 checkpoints between Tripoli and Zuwarah on the way to Tunisia. OCHA, Initial Assessment of Migrant Workers from Libya in Tunisia. No similar data is available for the eastern part of Libya. This matter has also been addressed in chapter III, section E, of the present report. 55