UN Committee on Migrant Workers to review Uruguay, El Salvador, Mali, Philippines

GENEVA –The UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families (CMW) is meeting from 31 March to 11 April to review:

Uruguay (31 Mar-1 April); El Salvador (1–2 April); Mali (2– 3 April); Philippines (3–4 April)

The above are among the 47 States Parties to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. They are required to submit regular reports to the Committee, which is composed of 14 international independent human rights experts.

Venue: Palais Wilson, Geneva

Time: Country sessions start 15:00 to 18:00 Geneva time; resume following day 10:00 to 13:00

Among the issues likely to be discussed:

Uruguay: measures to ensure migrant workers and their families have same rights to file complaints in court and receive effective redress; ensuring migrant workers in fishing industry and domestic service are treated equally with nationals; measures to protect migrant workers from labour exploitation, including denial of weekly rest period.

El Salvador: measures to investigate allegations of extortion and arbitrary detention of migrant workers; ensuring equality of treatment of migrant workers; awareness raising among Salvadorian nationals about dangers of irregular migration; measures to combat trafficking and smuggling of migrants.

Mali: consular and embassy assistance for Malian migrant workers; tackling smuggling and trafficking of migrants; efforts to combat cross-border trafficking in children, bilateral agreements with Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea; guaranteeing right of children of migrant workers to be registered at birth.

Philippines: protection of Filipino migrant workers, including assistance for victims of kafalah (sponsorship) system in Gulf countries of employment; role of private recruitment agencies, mechanisms to prevent agencies from charging excessive fees and acting as intermediaries for abusive foreign recruiters; measures to tackle exploitation of migrant women, especially in context of sex tourism; measures to protect migrant children from forced labour, sexual exploitation and abuse; strategies to combat trafficking in persons.

The Committee will discuss the issues with the respective government delegations and also hear from NGO representatives. More information can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=916&Lang=en

The Committee will make its concluding reports available here on 14 April: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=916&Lang=en

ENDS

For more information about the Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cmw/index.htm

For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell – +41 (0) 22 917 9434/ ethrossell@ohchr.org

To arrange an interview with a Committee member, please contact Bradford Smith +41 (0) 22 917 9335 /bsmith@ohchr.org

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