COMMITTEE ON PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS OPENS SIXTH SESSION

The Committee on the Protection of Migrant Workers, which reviews the implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families by its 36 States parties, this morning opened its sixth session by hearing an address by a Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. It also adopted its agenda and programme of work.

The Committee was addressed by Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Director of the Division of Human Rights Procedures at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), who said that OHCHR continued to convene the meetings of the Steering Committee on the Promotion of the Ratification of the Migrants Rights Convention, which aimed at increasing the number of States parties to the Convention. OHCHR intended to organize a briefing for representatives of the Permanent Missions here in Geneva in order to dispel some misunderstandings surrounding the Convention.

Mr. Ndiaye highlighted that, since the Committee's last session, Syria, Bolivia and El Salvador had submitted their initial reports. The Committee might now wish to move away from its present practice of two sessions a year of one week duration, and plan instead for one yearly session of three weeks, which would give the Committee more room for the consideration of States reports and other issues.

In the ensuing discussion among experts, Prasad Kariyawasam, Committee Chairperson, said that the Committee would probably have to hold longer sessions in the upcoming year, of at least two weeks duration. He also spoke about various developments with regard to the promotion of the Convention. Several experts then briefed the Committee on various developments in the promotion of the Convention in their regions.

Also this morning, the Committee heard from Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, as well as two international non-governmental organizations, on issues regarding migrant workers and Egypt, in preparation for its consideration of the initial report of Egypt (CMW/C/EGY/1), which it will take up when it reconvenes this afternoon at 3 p.m.

Statement by the Director of the Division of Human Rights Procedures

BACRE WALY NDIAYE, Director of the Division of Human Rights Procedures at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that, since the Committee's session in November 2006, the human rights treaty regime had been enriched with the adoption of three new instruments. On 13 December 2006, the General Assembly had adopted the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, landmark instruments that set out to protect the rights of some 650 million people worldwide. A signing ceremony for those instruments had been held on 30 March 2007 in New York. At the moment, there were 85 signatories for the Convention and 45 for its Optional Protocol.

On 20 December 2006, the General Assembly had also adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances. The text had been opened for signature on 6 February 2007, and so far 59 States had signed the Convention, Mr. Ndiaye noted.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was also expected to meet in Geneva in the near future, Mr. Ndiaye continued. Furthermore, the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture had held its first session in Geneva in February this year. That new monitoring mechanism was significantly different from those established by other United Nations treaties, since it established a preventive system of regular visits to places of detention, to be carried out in a complementary manner by independent international and national experts.

Since the Committee's last session, the Human Rights Council had held several sessions, including two special sessions: one on the Israeli military incursions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and another one on the situation of human rights in Darfur. At its fourth session, in March, the Council held inter-active dialogues with special procedures mandate holders, including with Jorge Bustamante, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants. Mr. Bustamante had reported to the Council on his recent visits to South Korea and Indonesia, and called upon States to become a party to the Migrant Workers Convention. The Special Rapporteur was planning to visit South Africa and the United States later this year, Mr. Ndiaye added.

Because the deadline by which the Council was expected to conclude its institution-building processes was now close at hand, its fifth session, which was to be held from 11 to 18 June, would focus on the establishment of the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, Mr. Ndiaye said, as well as the review of all mandates and mechanisms inherited from the former Commission on Human Rights.

Turning to the reform of treaty bodies, Mr. Ndiaye informed members that, as a follow-up to the recommendations of the Fifth Inter-Committee Meeting and the Eighteenth Meeting of Chairpersons of Treaty Bodies, the Working Group on Reservations – of which Committee Expert Ahmed Hassan El Borai was a member – had met on 14 and 15 December 2006. Mr. El Borai would inform the Committee of the outcome of the meeting, including details about the harmonization of working methods of treaty bodies, vis-à-vis reservations in the list of issues and concluding observations. Also, the International Law Commission would hold a discussion on reservations to human rights treaties with United Nations experts in the field of human rights from 15 to 16 May 2007 in Geneva, at which Mr. El Borai would represent the Committee.

OHCHR continued to strive to place more emphasis on country-level action, Mr. Ndiaye said, including in relation to the implementation of Committees' recommendations. In that context, OHCHR had organized a seminar on technical cooperation and follow-up to concluding observations on 9 and 10 November 2006 in Geneva, which Committee member José Brillantes had attended. The meeting had been attended not only by treaty body and special procedures experts, but also by members of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation, representatives of the United Nations specialized agencies, and staff of OHCHR field presences. The report of that seminar would be distributed as soon as it was finalized.

In terms of developments in the field of migration, Mr. Ndiaye noted that, since the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, the Government of Belgium had invited States to a Global Forum on Migration and Development, which would be held in Brussels on 10 and 11 July 2007. Although the themes chosen for the Forum were more linked to economic aspects of migration and development, many actors had expressed a wish to discuss human rights as a cross-cutting issue at the Forum's roundtables. OHCHR had raised the importance of inviting the relevant human rights mechanisms – such as the Committee on the Protection of Migrant Workers – to participate in the Forum, but it was still unclear whether there was a possibility for them to be represented.

In other initiatives, OHCHR continued to convene the meetings of the Steering Committee on the Promotion of the Ratification of the Migrants Rights Convention, which aimed at increasing the number of States parties to the Convention. The Steering Committee had organized a parallel event at the fourth and again at the fifth session of the Human Rights Council, at which the Chairman of the Committee on the Protection of Migrant Workers had participated. It also intended to organize a briefing for representatives of the Permanent Missions here in Geneva in order to dispel some misunderstandings surrounding the Convention.

Turning to the activities of the Committee during the present session, Mr. Ndiaye noted that, since its last session, Syria, Bolivia and El Salvador had submitted their initial reports. In the light of the number of reports that were now ready for consideration, the Committee might wish to move away from its present practice of two sessions a year of one week duration, and plan instead for one yearly session of three weeks, which would give the Committee more room for the consideration of States reports and other issues.

Mr. Ndiaye observed that the Committee had a busy session ahead of it: today they would start consideration of the initial report of Egypt. They would also be meeting in closed session with non-governmental organizations and UN agencies in preparation for consideration of the report of Ecuador. In its meeting with States parties, the Committee would discuss the status of reporting and promotion of the Convention. Finally, the Committee would discuss treaty body reform and adopt its annual report to the General Assembly.

Discussion on Migrants and Egypt

A representative of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt said the Egyptian National Council had been following the human rights situation of migrants closely and reported on it in their annual reports. Regarding the rights of Egyptian immigrant workers abroad, the Government had concluded numerous Arab and international treaties in recent years, and had made efforts to improve consular services. Much remained to be done however. Egyptian migrant workers continued to be victims of various violations and the response of the Government was often lacking, or inadequate. The Council had received numerous complaints from Egyptians working abroad, varying from allegations of not receiving financial entitlements, to damages resulting from abrupt measures undertaken by the authorities of receiving States, leading to, among other things, loss of belongings. Others suffered damages from such acts as imprisonment for undetermined periods, disappearances and death in unknown circumstances. In all, complaints from workers abroad represented 1.9 per cent of complaints received by the Council. Of serious concern, however, was the lack of a database for migrant workers abroad: their numbers were undefined; their whereabouts were unknown; and their situation was unclear.

Another concern of the National Council was the "Bail System", which was a practice adopted by a number of countries in the region. It was supposedly a contract between employee and employer, stating that the employee would work for a specified wage, and in return the employer would "bail" the person with the local authorities. That contract was a façade, with the "bailor" nothing more than a visa vendor who took commission for bailing workers. Such workers had no freedom of movement and suffered from other human rights abuses. That system had to be abolished. Another problem was that migrant workers were not informed about their rights. A labour attaché should be posted and provided with a well-qualified staff, and there should be a media programme to spread information about migrants' rights.

With regard to the rights of migrant workers in Egypt, the Council was again concerned about a serious gap in statistics on the number, situation and whereabouts of foreign workers in Egypt. There were almost no complaints made by such workers to the Council, indicating the total lack of awareness of such workers about their rights and recourses. Most vulnerable were the undocumented migrant workers. In particular, there were some 3 million Sudanese workers in Egypt.

A representative of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, in a joint statement with the International Federation for Human Rights, said the Initiative was particularly concerned by the ongoing attack and harassment of the major employees association in Egypt – the Centre for Trade Unions and Workers' Services – by the Government. The non-governmental organizations law of 2002 was unduly restrictive, allowing the Government to dissolve non-governmental organizations that sought foreign funding by administrative order. Many human rights non-governmental organizations were under threat of closure by the Government, and several local branches of the Centre for Trade Unions had been closed. UN treaty bodies had consistently criticized the Egyptian Government's restrictions on NGO activities for creating an atmosphere not conducive to the promotion or protection of human rights.

Of particular concern were the killings by Egyptian authorities that had taken place on 30 December 2005, when Egyptian Security Forces had evacuated by force about 1,500 Sudanese migrants and refuges who had settled in Mustafa Mahmud Square, in front of UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) headquarters. Since 29 September 2005, those migrants had requested relocation to third countries, among other demands related to their living conditions in Egypt and UNHCR policies towards Sudanese asylum-seekers. Early in the morning, reportedly some 2,000 police officers fired water canons into the crowd and beat individuals with clubs in order to end the sit-in. Reportedly, at least 27 individuals died and many others were injured. The decision of the Public Prosecutor to close the investigation into those killings revealed a serious failure of the Government to prosecute and punish the perpetrators. Clearly, in Egypt the lives of migrants were cheaper than the lives of others, the Egyptian Initiative said. Last month, nine Sudanese workers were arrested and detained merely for trying to enter the office of UNHCR to obtain information. They were still in detention. The conduct of security forces, and the impunity they enjoyed, in particular under the prolonged state of emergency in Egypt, had a major impact on the rights of migrant workers. Also of concern was anti-terrorism legislation, and its effect on the human rights of everyone, including migrant workers. Recent anti-terrorism legislation provided for the suspension of rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. Finally, mandatory HIV/AIDS testing for migrants and discrimination against those that were HIV-positive was an important issue in Egypt. Denial of work to those with HIV/AIDS, and discrimination against those workers, was in contravention of numerous conventions, including the Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers. The Egyptian Initiative called for the immediate repeal of the law mandating such testing.

A representative of the Hotline for Migrant Workers said that the report they had submitted to the Committee had highlighted the situation of illegal Egyptian migrant workers working in Israel. Of some 32 illegal migrant workers detained by the Israeli authorities between September and December 2005, 12 had spent at least 10 months in administrative detention, whereas the average term for such detention – where the detainees cooperated with the authorities, as they had done in this case – was 2 weeks. However, the Egyptian authorities at the Tel Aviv consulate had been very tardy in issuing the necessary documents to substantiate the detainees' identities.

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