A/HRC/26/41
system, and in particular by the Human Rights Council and OHCHR.37 While in practical
terms the comparative advantage of ensuring that this mainstreaming actually occurs in a
robust and rapid way may not, for various reasons, always lie with either the Council or
OHCHR, they continue to bear the primary obligation to campaign and push for its
realization, notwithstanding all the attendant conceptual and practical difficulties. One
suggested practical way in which the Council and OHCHR can add practical value to this
mainstreaming project is to enhance the strategy of inter-agency liaison and cooperation
that they already utilize in this regard, for example through the United Nations
Development Group’s human rights mainstreaming mechanism, which is chaired by
OHCHR. They could do this by establishing a high-level focal point (either a person or a
unit) as appropriate.
XI.
Strengthening human rights cooperation
in the field of migration
44.
The promotion of international human rights cooperation in the field of migration
presents an opportunity to affect positively the human rights of the 232 million migrants
worldwide through the better coordination of policymaking and protection efforts. The
Sixth Meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which was held in
Mauritius in November 2012 on the theme “Enhancing the human development of migrants
and their contribution to the development of communities and States", made major
recommendations to countries of both origin and destination in order to combat labour
exploitation and human trafficking while protecting victims. For his part, the Special
Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, in a report on climate change and migration,
stressed the need for coordinated international cooperation on climate-change-induced
migration (A/67/299, paras. 90-93). Receiving States should be encouraged to recognize
migrant workers as a vulnerable group and to overcome reluctance to grant migrants equal
treatment with nationals with respect to the protection of their human rights. Furthermore,
receiving and sending States can work together to create demand-driven systems of
migration through bilateral or multilateral labour agreements, such as that concluded
between Mauritius and Canada. The integration of migrants into their host societies must be
seen as a key component of international cooperation in the field of human rights, since it
strengthens respect for core universal human rights values.
XII.
Conclusions
45.
The following practical suggestions, many of which could form the basis for
immediate action by the Council, have been made in the present report:
(a)
The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations of the Economic
and Social Council, currently made up entirely of States, may need to be restructured
to include in some advisory capacity the accredited and legitimate representatives of a
variety of civil society actors;
(b)
Automatic consultative status with the Human Rights Council could be
accorded to developing country civil society organizations that already enjoy similar
status with their regional or national human rights institutions;
37
16
HRC13/012E, 1 March 2013.
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