wfn.org | Migrants' Rights

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
17 March 1998

The Steering Committee for the Migrants Rights Convention has issued
the following press release which we are sending to our normal media
contacts:

GLOBAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCH FOR MIGRANTS RIGHTS CONVENTION

The protection of human rights of migrants is one of the biggest
challenges facing the world today  In response, the Steering Committee
for the Migrants Rights Convention is to launch a global campaign to
persuade governments to adopt the UN human rights convention on
migrants' rights.  

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrants and Members of Their Families was adopted in December 1990
by the UN General Assembly.  But, for it to enter into force, twenty UN
member states must ratify it.  To date only nine states -
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Colombia, Egypt, Morocco, Philippines,
Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Uganda - have done so.  Chile and Mexico
have signed, the preliminary step to ratifying.

Steering Committee spokesperson Patrick Taran says,   "The protection
of the human rights of migrants has become one of the most challenging
dilemmas facing our world today.  Yet while abuse and hostilities
towards migrants mount, the international convention which sets out
their basic human rights has not entered into force."

Today, concern about that is being translated into action.  The global
campaign will be launched on March 20, the International Day for the
Elimination of Racism and Racial Discrimination, at the UN center in
Geneva.  Other campaign events will follow during the UN Commission
on Human Rights session in Geneva from 16 March to 24 April, 1998.

To organize the campaign, the International Migrants Rights Watch
Committee (IMRWC), an independent expert body promoting migrants'
human rights, has convened a steering committee.  This committee
reflects the breadth of concern surrounding this issue.  Participating
organizations include Human Rights Watch, Inter-American Institute for
Human Rights, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU),
International Labour Organization (ILO), Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Migrants Forum in Asia, Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and World Council
of Churches. 

The UN General Assembly decision to draft and adopt the 1990
Convention was a strong statement of international consensus on the
need for protection of the human rights of migrants. However, no
organized effort to promote ratification of this treaty has been
made...until now. 

As with other conventions, governments need to be convinced that
ratification of this Convention is necessary.  This will only be achieved
by building awareness and exercising political pressure with government
officials, diplomats, politicians, NGOs and the public-at-large   nationally
and internationally.

Coordinated activities at international and national levels to build
awareness about the International Convention have already begun.  The
success of the campaign depends on its being carried out by hundreds
of organizations and people - human rights bodies, religious groups,
trade unions, women's organizations, migrant groups and others working
together at national levels.  This model has already proven immensely
successful with the international campaign to ban anti-personnel land
mines. 
 
Most major international church organizations, including the World Council
of Churches (WCC), Conference of European Churches (CEC), and
Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) officially support ratification of the
1990 convention.  The Roman Catholic Church and many of its national
Bishops Conferences have likewise declared support; some
conferences have been actively pressing their governments to ratify.

International trade union bodies, notably the International Confederation
of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and Public Services International (PSI),
have declared support and are urging national affiliates to do so.  Human
Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists have initiated
advocacy efforts, particularly in Africa and Asia.  The Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and many of its
national sections are also actively pressing for ratification.

For more information on the Convention and the global campaign, contact 
Patrick Taran, Secretary for Migration, World Council of Churches.   
Tel:+41-22 791 6320; Fax:+41-22 788-0067; e-mail:pt@wcc-coe.org

World Council of Churches
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