We are pleased to share with the new Guide on strengthening legal protection of migrants’ rights. Seeking to better protect migrants’ human rights and dignity, the new publication encourages governments worldwide to ratify and implement the Convention.

The user-friendly Guide to the International Convention on the rights of migrants was prepared by the Steering Committee – a network of concerned intergovernmental agencies and international civil society groups chaired by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – and was launched on 30 April, ahead of the International Workers’ Day on 1 May.

The new publication seeks to inform and persuade governments worldwide to sign and ratify the Convention, and to implement it at the national level.

The Convention is more timely than ever as the scale of international migration has substantially increased in recent years and become a truly global phenomenon. More than 200 million people now live outside their country of origin, with an estimated 100 million among them economically active; in other words employed, self-employed or otherwise engaged in remunerative activity.

The Guide provides a summary of Convention and discusses the process of ratification. Of particular importance to policy makers, parliamentarians and advocates, it outlines the pros and cons of ratification and refutes various misconceptions about the Convention.

For example, it is often said that the Convention would favour irregular migration whereas in fact, it is strongly opposed to irregular migration and contains specific provisions to combat it.

The Guide also discusses the two complementary ILO conventions on migrant workers and migration for employment that comprise a “Charter on International Migration” together with the ICRMW.

To date, 41 countries have ratified the ICRMW, far short of the 120 or more countries worldwide for which migration is an important feature, either as origin, transit or destination countries.

The Guide is available at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Press/HandbookFINAL.PDF.

Source: Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)