The abuse of basic rights and human dignity suffered by migrants has become a global issue. Violence against migrants is too common an occurrence. The expression of xenophobic and racist sentiments against migrants, refugees and other foreigners has entered mainstream political and public discourse not only in most Western industrialized states, but also in many countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Migrants have become the almost universal scapegoat for rising unemployment, crime, and a host of other social ills in many countries

Migration has been a permanent feature of human history. Several disturbing trends have come to characterize the large-scale global movements of people. They are leading to a qualitatively new reality of global human migration:

1. There are breakdowns of the economic, political, social and environmental situations that once allowed people to survive and remain in their traditional communities and countries.
2. Many wars are being waged today. They are mostly fought within States rather than between States. Political leaders are using religion and ethnicity to uphold narrow nationalistic goals which result in dividing pluralistic societies rather than uniting them.
3. Most migratory movements, including refugee flight, and most internal displacements are taking place in and to countries of the South, countries with the least resources to assist large numbers of uprooted people.
4. Migration is expanding within and between all regions of the globe during a period of growing worldwide economic distress.
5. There is a rise in racist and xenophobic hostility against refugees and immigrants. This hostility, often expressed in outright violence, is widespread in all regions of the globe.
6. Governments worldwide, led by those in countries of the industrialized North, are imposing restrictive immigration control and severe "deterrence measures" against the movement of people into or across their territories. At the same time, governments are cooperating to "harmonize" policies to control international migration.

According to United Nations estimates, there are more than 120 million persons living in countries other than their own. This includes refugees, migrant workers, permanent immigrants and others.

There is no precise, internationally accepted legal definition of migrant. The category of international migrant is very broad. It is commonly understood to include people who cross borders to reside and work temporarily in other nations and those who emigrate to settle permanently in another country. Distinctions today between refugees, asylum-seekers, migrant workers and other migrants are increasingly blurred.

To one degree or another, several major international institutions now recognize that many of today's international migrants - beyond those recognized as refugees - have been compelled to leave their homelands because of severe political, economic and social conditions. The World Council of Churches adopted the term "uprooted people" in 1995 to speak of "all those who are compelled by severe political, economic and social conditions to leave their land and their culture - regardless of the labels they are given by others." The WCC emphasizes that it believes many of the people crossing borders today are uprooted.

In a chapter on international migration in its final report, the International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994, highlighted a number of factors which compel people to migrate across national borders: "International economic imbalances, poverty and environmental degradation, combined with the absence of peace and security, human rights violations and the varying degrees of development of judicial and democratic institutions are all factors affecting international migration."

Considerable international migration occurs for oter reasons. The globalization of economic activity has internationalized labor markets. International experience and training in foreign settings have become necessary for workers and professionals in many fields, such as telecommunications, marketing and hotel service. Increasing exchanges of personnel take place within transnational corporate enterprises.

Many countries remain dependent on migrant laborers and professionals to fill gaps in job markets, develop new areas of production or services, and maintain labor-intensive activity. In some countries, migrants supply a considerable portion of the domestic workforce. Many of these migrant workers and professionals have been encouraged, even recruited to come to other countries.

As the recent financial crisis across Asia has once again shown, such migrant laborers are among the most vulnerable of all. They are recruited by the hundreds of thousands to fill the dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs created by economic expansion. But when times of economic instability or transition arise, they are subject to expulsion and greater abuse.

No human being is "illegal"

Migrants are becoming scapegoats for a host of social problems. A manifestation of the victimization of migrants is the widespread, official adoption of the term "illegal migrant" by governments and international conferences in the last two years. These two simple words criminalize and dehumanize human beings, making of them an antisocial "commodity".

Many migrants today are undocumented, out of status or "irregular." They have the responsibility to seek documented status and accept the restrictions of a fair migration policy, administered by the host state according to due process. States have the obligation to ensure protection of fundamental human rights of all persons on their territories, regardless of status

Defense of the basic human rights of any group in society, especially the most vulnerable, is defense of the rights of all. As history has shown, the denial of rights to one group becomes the first step and basis for imposing increasing restrictions on other groups.

The widely accepted 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (and its 1967 Protocol), ratified by 131 countries worldwide, provides that people have a right not to be returned to countries where they face individual persecution. This is referred to as the right to non-refoulement. The convention defines refugees as individuals who have a 'well founded fear of being persecuted' on various grounds. Countries which have ratified this convention have generally assured such refugees recognition of their status and a measure of protection for their human rights, as well as other assistance. Many African states have also ratified the Organisation of African Unity's 1969 Convention governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa, which extends the definition of refugee to cover people who have fled their country 'owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination, or events seriously disturbing public order', but this more generous provision is not part of international law elsewhere in the world. People displaced by war are usually not recognized as refugees - though they may be given some other status under the national law of the country where they have sought refuge. Moreover, there are no international standards which specifically uphold the need for protection and assistance of people who have been forced to leave their homelands as a result of environmental, economic or social hardship. Indeed, it would be difficult to establish a measure of the type of life-threatening environmental, economic or social conditions that should require international protection for those escaping them. Even more difficult would be persuading governments to agree not to forcibly return individuals to such life-threatening conditions. Even the UN refugee convention only insists that refugees not be repatriated involuntarily; it does not oblige states to grant asylum to those who seek it.

As described later in this handbook, recognition emerged in the 1970's that special efforts, and a special convention, were needed to ensure protection of the basic human rights of migrants. These basic human rights were identified in drafting the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. This document in turn is based on the principles contained in such fundamental instruments as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While the Convention specifically addresses migrant workers, ratification and implementation of its provisions would provide a significant measure of protection for most other migrants in vulnerable situations. However, few countries have taken the necessary steps to adopt these standards by signing and ratifying or acceding to this Convention, thus incorporating its standards in national law.

Advocates of human rights and those who uphold the rule of law as essential foundations for democratic society recognize that protection of rights must be universal. Recognition of rising hostility and attacks on migrants, together with the need to uphold basic human rights standards, has led the International Migrants Rights Watch Committee to initiate a global campaign to bring into force this Convention. Ratification or accession by 20 states is required for this instrument to "enter into force," in other words, to become operative and part of international law. It may then be used as an authoritative standard of good practice, and thus may exercise strong persuasive power over non-party States as well, even though they have not agreed to be bound by its standards.

Governments need to be convinced that ratification of the Convention is necessary. This will only be achieved by building awareness and expressing popular concern about the Convention to government officials, diplomats, politicians, and the public-at-large nationally and internationally. The campaign is an intentional effort to build coordinated, interrelated activities to promote the ratification of, or accession to, the Convention by a large number of States. Widespread ratification of this International Convention can only be achieved through a campaign conducted cooperatively by representatives of governments, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), foundations and grass-roots organizations. A formal campaign steering committee has been convened to generate basic campaign strategies and materials.

(1) International Labour Office. International Migration and Migrant Worker. Committee on Employment and Social Policy, 265^th Session, Geneva, March 1996 (GP267-ESP-2):4.

(2) UNHCR. Figure provided at UNHCR Standing Committee meeting, Geneva, 2-3 February 1998.