A/HRC/42/58 Annex I Summaries of the expert presentations and initial discussions on the agenda topics Protection of migrants against racist, discriminatory and xenophobic practices 1. At its 2nd meeting, on 8 April, the Committee considered the issue of the protection of migrants against racist, discriminatory and xenophobic practices. François Crépeau, Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law of McGill University in Montreal, Canada and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants gave a presentation on the topic. 2. In his presentation, François Crépeau argued that facilitating regular mobility, notably through long-term, sustainable and human rights-based mobility strategies and diversity policies, is the best way to ensure the human rights of all migrants. He explained that prohibiting means, such as anti-immigration policies and practices, not only fail to prevent cross-border mobility but also push many migrants in situations of precarious or absent administrative status where all discriminations and human rights violations are possible. He noted that, in contrast, States should seek to govern mobility, in order to legalize, regulate and tax mobility. 3. Mr. Crépeau discussed how the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), as well as the UN Agenda 2030, contribute towards achieving this objective. He noted that the GCM, which embraces the spirit of target 10.7 of the UN Agenda 2030, provides a remarkably coherent, if incomplete, conceptual roadmap for facilitating mobility and fostering diversity. He highlighted several specific objectives of the GMC, including objectives 5 and 7 by which States committed to ‘enhance availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration’ and ‘to implement processes allowing undocumented migrants to regularize their situation. In this regard, he noted the importance of facilitating the movement of people who seek work and putting in place quick processes for obtaining work permits when a foreigner secures a work contract. He also stated that facilitating the regularization of undocumented status should become a major policy tool and that, in the long-term, the objective should be that most migrants are provided with travel documents. 4. He noted that the GCM recognizes that migrant children deserve protection as children, and that their migration status or that of there should never interfere with such protection. The GCM also recognizes that the principle of the ‘best interests of the child’ should always be a primary consideration and that the right to family unity and family life should be enforced. 5. He discussed objective 15 by which States committed to “ensure that all migrants, regardless of their migration status, can exercise their human rights through safe access to basic services” and objectives 16 and 18 that aim at facilitating the labour and social integration of migrants. He recalled that access to basic services for ‘all’ is key and that one important aspect for protecting such rights is the establishment of ‘firewalls’ between immigration enforcement and public services. 6. Mr. Crépeau also discussed objective 6 of the GCM by which States committed to facilitating “fair and ethical recruitment and safeguard conditions that ensure decent work.” On this subject matter, he regretted that the GCM does not mention the need for destination countries to reduce their underground labour markets, which act as a major pull factor for undocumented migration. He explained that the precariousness of the undocumented or temporary migrant worker condition is socially constructed through the interaction of their absent or precarious legal status and the lack of government enforcement of labour law against unscrupulous employers. As long as millions of employers across the world will offer jobs in exploitative working conditions without fear of being held accountable, smuggling rings will offer means to bypass migration controls, and several industry lobbies will continue defending the status quo. According to him, sustained political will to develop 20