COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS CONCLUDES TWENTY-FIRST SESSION

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families today concluded its twenty-first session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on Belize and Ghana.

Closing the session, Francisco Carrion Mena, Chairperson of the Committee, summarized the work accomplished by the Committee during the week, which included a review of Belize in the absence of a report or delegation and the initial report of Ghana and the adoption of the lists of issues for Peru, Lesotho and Mauritania, whose reports would be considered in future sessions. The Committee had adopted a statement regarding civil society, and started a follow-up on procedures on prior recommendations. Drafting of a General Comment on the rights of migrant children had commenced. A meeting had also been held on strengthening the treaty body system.

In his concluding remarks, the Chairperson said that the meeting with the Committee on the Rights of the Child had been very useful, especially in the terms of establishing a working group on the draft General Comment on migrant children. The Committee had started to draft a letter to go to different States to encourage them to ratify the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The Committee had also participated in the side event on migrant domestic workers, which might not have turned out as productive as anticipated, the Chairperson said. A letter welcoming the new High Commissioner had been prepared, and there was hope that he would attend one of the future sessions of the Committee. The Chairperson thanked everyone for their cooperation in the course of the week.

During the session, the Committee also held meetings on how to promote the Convention, and to discuss its methods of work. The Committee also held a meeting with United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, as well as with the representatives of non-governmental organizations. At the beginning of the week, the session had been opened by June Ray, Chief of the Civil Society Section at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who spoke about the treaty body strengthening process and the discussion held at the Human Rights Council on the issue of migrants.

The concluding observations and recommendations on Belize and the initial report of Ghana will be available on the Committee’s webpage from early next week.

The twenty-second session of the Committee will be held from 13 to 24 April 2015 at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, when the Committee will consider the report of Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Sri Lanka, and Uganda.



For use of the information media; not an official record

CMW14/008E