La Strada Documentation Center

Strangers in Foreign Lands. Diversity, Vulnerability and the Rights of Migrants

Document number
1622
Date
2003
Title
Strangers in Foreign Lands. Diversity, Vulnerability and the Rights of Migrants
Author/publisher
Fernand de Varennes, United Nations Educational. Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
The UN Migrant Workers' Convention, Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour; Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Restrictive migration measures, Violence, Human rights violation, Crime against humanity, War crime, Armed conflict, Post-conflict situation, Terrorism,
Summary
This report does not purport to address all matters surrounding integration and population flows between borders. It is much more modest in scope, concentrating rather on the rights of migrant workers and their integration, mainly from a legal point of view. It is the need to protect migrant workers, to increase the respect of their rights, and the impact this may have in assuring their integration which will be explored in greater detail. What will first be examined are the central problems and weaknesses in the protection of migrant workers, concentrating on their particularly pronounced vulnerability, followed by an examination of the evolution of the legal regimes for their protection at the international and regional levels. The report will then elaborate on the most comprehensive international instrument dealing with the rights of migrant workers, the United Nations’ International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. What will be emphasized is that strategies need to be adopted which will redress the most glaring failures in the protection of migrants and their integration: the relative weakness of legal protection in light of their vulnerability and the lack of focus on citizens and their own attitudes in relation to migrants, both important factors that explain some of the tensions in many States.
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