A/HRC/17/2 17/22 Migrants and asylum-seekers fleeing recent events in North Africa The Human Rights Council, Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set out therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, colour or national or social origin, property, birth or other status, including the right to life and security of the person, Recalling the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, Recalling also the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 and the Protocol thereto of 1967, Underlining the important role of the Human Rights Council in promoting respect for the protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all, including those of migrants and asylum-seekers, Reaffirming that everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State, and to leave any country, including his or her own, and to return to his or her country, Recalling the obligations of States under international human rights law, humanitarian law and refugee law, in particular with regard to the principle of nonrefoulement, Recalling also the responsibility of States to take the requisite steps in accordance with their international obligations to provide persons in distress at sea, including persons fleeing the recent events in North Africa, with assistance, Affirming that crimes and human rights violations against migrants continue to pose a serious challenge and require a concerted international assessment and response and genuine multilateral cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination for their eradication, 1. Expresses its alarm at the continuing vulnerable situation of migrants and asylum-seekers who have suffered untold hardship and, in some cases, even death as they attempt to flee recent events in North Africa; 2. Also expresses its alarm at the fact that, after having been compelled to make dangerous journeys, including in crowded and unsafe boats, the above-mentioned migrants are subjected to life-threatening exclusion, detention, rejection and xenophobia; 3. Further expresses its alarm at the fact that, since the beginning of the recent events in North Africa, there have been several reports of boats sinking and, in this regard, notes with sadness the death at sea of several hundreds of people, mostly African citizens, after their boats sank and that, according to accounts of survivors and family members, more than one thousand two hundred people are still unaccounted for; GE.12-13630 63