Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Migrant Workers The Role of National Human Rights Institutions 3. WHAT HUMAN RIGHTS APPLY TO MIGRANT WORKERS? The protections that exist in international law for migrant workers and members of their families include: • fundamental human rights that apply to all migrants, regardless of their status, which are set out in the core international human rights treaties and under customary international law • international labour conventions and standards that provide basic protections for treatment and conditions at work, which apply to all workers regardless of their migration status. In general, States are obliged to ensure that migrants receive comparable treatment and protection as nationals of the State. 3.1. The international human rights framework The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has become an international “standard of achievement for all peoples and nations”17 and is the foundation for the international human rights framework that has developed since 1948. Strictly speaking, the Declaration as a whole is not a legally binding instrument. However many of the rights within the Declaration have acquired binding status either through their recognition within the framework of customary international law or through their incorporation into subsequent legally binding treaties. Today, the international human rights framework consists of the Declaration and nine core human rights treaties: • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women • Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment • Convention on the Rights of the Child • International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families • International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The principle of non-discrimination is central to the enjoyment of human rights and applies to everyone, regardless of their status. According to the Human Rights Committee, “discrimination” under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights involves: ... any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference which is based on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, and which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by all persons, on an equal footing, of all rights and freedoms.18 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has also defined discrimination in similarly broad terms.19 17 Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. 18 General Comment No. 18; Human Rights Committee; 1989; para. 7. 19 General Comment No. 20; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; 2009; para. 13. 4 | Chapter 1: The international legal framework on the rights of migrant workers and members of their families