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International Migrants Day*
Preserve the rights of all migrants
18 December 2007
At the occasion of the International Migrants Day, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) wishes to remind the necessity of preserving all the rights of all migrants, independently of their status.
“It is very worrying to notice the present tendency consisting in stigmatising irregular migrants and talking about them as if they had no rights” declared Kamel Jendoubi, President of the EMHRN. “All migrants have the right to an adequate protection, in line with international human rights law” he added.
Among those rights, the EMHRN reminds the absolute prohibition of the expulsion, refoulement or extradition of an individual to a country where he or she could be subjected to torture or to ill treatments[1]. Any migrant, regardless of his or her status, also benefits from the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention[2], the right to leave any country, including his or her own[3] and the right to respect for private and family life[4].
The EMHRN also reiterates its call on all the member states of the Barcelona Process to ratify and implement the International convention on the rights of all migrant workers and the members of their families. “It is regretful to note that none of the EU member states has ratified this convention” said Jendoubi. “We therefore call on the European Commission to launch consultations with all the member states in order to identify the reasons preventing them from ratifying this convention and to propose means of overcoming the potential difficulties in view of its adoption” added the President of the EMHRN.
More generally, the EMHRN insists on the need of putting as a priority to any policy in the field of border management, the safeguarding of the rights of migrants and asylum seekers[5]. It therefore regrets the Euromed Ministerial Conference on Migration, held in Algarve on 18-19 November, did not succeed in identifying priorities of cooperation in that field.
[1] Article 3 of the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
[2] Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ; Article 5 of the European Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms (ECHR).
[4] Article 24 ICCPR ; Article 8 ECHR
[5] Consult the EMHRN report, assessing the impact of the cooperation in the Euromed region in the field of migration and asylum : http://www.euromedrights.net/pages/348/news/focus/47978
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