Part I International laws and mechanisms Chapter 2: The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families KEY QUESTIONS • What rights are protected under the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families? • Does the Convention make a distinction between the rights of documented and undocumented migrant workers? • What obligations does the Convention place on States? How is compliance with the Convention monitored? 1. INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces and describes the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (“the Convention on Migrant Workers”) and the obligations it imposes on States that have ratified it. By ratifying core human rights treaties and ILO conventions, States agree to uphold a range of obligations in relation to the treatment of migrant workers in their territory. In addition, all States have, by virtue of their obligations under the UN Charter and the ILO Constitution, accepted accountability to the international community in relation to the implementation and realization of human rights, including the human rights of migrant workers and members of their families. The Convention on Migrant Workers is therefore not the only human rights treaty that protects the rights of migrant workers; however, it is the most comprehensive and detailed. It sets a worldwide standard in terms of migrants’ access to fundamental rights, whether in the labour market, in the education and health systems or in the courts.40 It is the first universal codification of the rights of migrant workers and members of their families in a single instrument.41 However, the relatively low level of ratification of the Convention42 highlights the importance of drawing on the commitments made by States through their ratification of other human rights treaties and ILO conventions. 40 “Introduction, The UN Convention on Migrant Workers’ Rights”; Paul de Guchteneire and Antoine Pécoud; in Migration and Human Rights: The United Nations Convention on Migrant Worker Rights; Ryszard Cholewinski, Paul de Guchteneire and Antoine Pécoud (ed), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization / Cambridge University Press; 2009. 41 “The International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in the Context of International Migration Policies: An Analysis of Ten Years of Negotiation”; Juhani Lönnroth; International Migration Review; vol. 25; no. 4 (Winter 1991). 42 45 States as at September 2011; nearly all of them States that send rather than receive migrant workers. Chapter 2: The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families | 11