A/HRC/16/20
52.
As one example, OHCHR has been working with WHO to develop a policy
assessment tool on “Human rights and gender equality in health sector strategies - How to
assess policy coherence”, which will be finalized during the first quarter of 2011. Building
upon rights-based budget monitoring work carried out in Haiti and Liberia in 2009,
OHCHR is also developing a learning package on budget processes and human rights, to
provide more effective support to Member States and national partners in their efforts to
integrate human rights in their national development and poverty reduction strategies and is
currently supporting a number of Governments, at their request, to integrate human rights
into national development processes. Inspired by these examples, during the course of my
Roundtable Five intervention at the MDGs Summit, I offered the support of OHCHR to all
Member States willing to show their leadership in integrating human rights within their
national development plans.
D.
Human rights in the context of migration
53.
In the second half of 2010, I chaired the Global Migration Group (GMG), a
collective of 14 United Nations agencies, the International Organization for Migration and
the World Bank. Through leadership of the GMG, OHCHR promoted a human rights-based
approach to migration within the United Nations system and beyond, thus contributing to
the international community’s increased responsiveness to migrants’ rights.
54.
Under OHCHR chairpersonship, the focus of GMG on the human rights of migrants,
particularly those in an irregular situation, led to increased awareness of migrants’ rights
among senior Government representatives and the public at large. A case in point is the
landmark joint statement on the human rights of irregular migrants adopted by the GMG
Principals on 30 September 2010. A full-day GMG experts meeting on the same subject
organized by OHCHR in October also generated policy recommendations that were widely
disseminated.
55.
The Office highlighted key migration and human rights themes at the regional and
international levels, notably at the WHO, IOM and the Government of Spain’s Global
Consultation on Migrants’ Health, held in Madrid in March 2010, as well as at the fourth
Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) held in Mexico in November 2010.
56.
There, I drew attention to human rights and the International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families throughout
the Forum. A side event was organized to mark the twentieth anniversary of the
Convention, at which I advocated for ratification and concerted efforts at implementation.
Commemorative events to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on 18
December 2010 took place in various parts of the world.
57.
The Office has continued to support compliance of migration policies, legislation
and measures with international human rights standards, through its support to various
human rights mechanisms, such as the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
and the universal periodic review, as well as the Committee on Migrant Workers. It is my
view, shared by all the GMG Principals in our joint statement, that, although States have
legitimate interests in securing their borders and exercising immigration controls, such
concerns do not trump the obligations of the State to respect the internationally guaranteed
rights of all persons, to protect those rights against abuses and to fulfil the rights necessary
for them to enjoy a life of dignity and security.
58.
The Office has begun a project to develop a set of training modules to support a
human rights-based approach to migration., aimed at ensuring that migrants enjoy human
rights without discrimination.
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