A/HRC/31/80
proved particularly useful for identifying relevant areas of cooperation since 2014, when
migration was mainstreamed within the Office’s six principal thematic strategies.
19.
As a founding member of the Global Migration Group and Co-Chair of its Working
Group on Migration, Human Rights and Gender, OHCHR has sought to inject a human
rights perspective into national, regional and global discussions on migration. The High
Commissioner has personally highlighted the importance of migration and the protection of
migrants’ rights in a number of public statements and keynote speeches, in addition to
publishing joint statements on the plight of migrants in the Mediterranean and South-East
Asia with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Director-General of
IOM and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on International Migration
and Development (the “quartet”). OHCHR will work closely with Global Migration Group
and quartet partners to ensure that the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on
large-scale movements of refugees and migrants, to be organized by the Secretary-General
at the seventy-first session of the Assembly, will be human rights-based and migrantcentred.
III. National and regional technical cooperation experiences to
promote and protect the rights of all migrants, including
women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities
A.
Compliance of national legislation, policies, programmes and
institutions, including the judiciary and national human rights
institutions, with international human rights standards
20.
At the global level, OHCHR launched its Recommended Principles and Guidelines
on Human Rights at International Borders during the sixty-ninth session of the General
Assembly, and subsequently in Brussels, Geneva and other regional settings. The Principles
address capacity-building, rescue and interception, assistance, screening, identification and
referral, as well as conditions of detention and removal, and have been broadly welcomed
by a wide range of stakeholders. Member States are already applying the Principles: for
example, in Switzerland, the State Secretariat on Migration refers to them in its internal
guidance.
21.
The Working Group on Human Rights and Gender of the Global Migration Group
(which OHCHR co-chairs with UN-Women) has agreed to develop practical guidance
drawn from international human rights law and related standards to ensure that responses to
“mixed migration flows” are human rights-based.
22.
In June 2015, OHCHR held an expert meeting on the theme, “Human rights and
migrant smuggling: exploring issues and challenges”, which convened experts from United
Nations agencies, Member States, academia and civil society to discuss smuggling from a
human rights perspective.
23.
In its resolution 29/2, the Human Rights Council requested OHCHR to submit to the
Council before its thirty-first session a study on the situation of migrants in transit, in
consultation with States and other stakeholders. The report will address several of the
concerns raised by the Council in resolution 29/2, notably the risks faced by women
migrants and children, in particular unaccompanied and separated children.
24.
OHCHR provides substantive technical assistance on human rights to the Global
Forum on Migration and Development for its annual meeting , participating in and
informing government teams, drafting background documentation and contributing to
7
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents