Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Migrant Workers The Role of National Human Rights Institutions General Recommendation No. 28 on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (2010) “ … the obligations of States parties apply without discrimination both to citizens and non-citizens, including refugees, asylum-seekers, migrant workers and stateless persons, within their territory or effective control, even if not situated within the territory.” Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 3 on HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child (2003) “Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is more acute for a number of children, including migrant children, and underlines their need for special protection.” General Comment No. 6 on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin (2005) Clarifies the scope of article 2, according to which: “State obligations under the Convention apply to each child within the State’s territory and to all children subject to its jurisdiction. Therefore, the enjoyment of rights stipulated in the Convention is not limited to children who are citizens of a State party and must therefore, if not explicitly stated otherwise in the Convention, also be available to all children – including asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children – irrespective of their nationality, immigration status or statelessness.” Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination General Recommendation No. 30 on discrimination against non-citizens (2004) Clarifies general principles for responsibilities of States parties to the Convention vis-à-vis non-citizens and deals in particular with issues of protection against hate speech and racial violence; access to citizenship; administration of justice; expulsion and deportation of non-citizens; economic, social and cultural rights. It recommends that States parties adopt a set of measures including that they “ensure that any measures taken in the fight against terrorism do not discriminate, in purpose or effect, on the grounds of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin and that non-citizens are not subjected to racial or ethnic profiling or stereotyping.” Committee against Torture General Comment No. 1 on refoulement and communications (implementation of article 3 in the context of article 22) (1997) Concerns the principle of “non-refoulement”, where a State party must not extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that s/he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. While the text does not mention migrant workers, it has been argued that it applies to undocumented migrants that are to be deported.76 General Comment No. 2 on the implementation of article 2 by States parties (2007) States that the term “any territory under its jurisdiction,” applies to “any person, citizen or non-citizen without discrimination subject to the de jure or de facto control of a State party.” 76 76 “Migrants’ rights in UN human rights conventions”; Isabelle Slinckx; 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; p. 128. 32 | Chapter 3: Other UN instruments and mechanisms relevant to the rights of migrant workers