Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All

Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

Thirty-third session

Summary record ( p artial )* of th e 472nd meeting**

Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Friday, 8 October 2021, at 3 p.m.

Chair:Mr. Ünver

Contents

Organizational matters

Closure of the session

The discussion covered in the summary record began at 5.25 p.m.

Organizational matters

1.The Chair said that the particular prominence of migration issues in the media during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was in stark contrast with the low number of ratifications of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Insufficient ratification and the delay in the entry into force of procedures for receiving communications from individuals and States remained the biggest challenges of the Committee on Migrant Workers in ensuring the protection of migrant rights around the world.

2.At its thirty-third session, the Committee had held constructive dialogues with delegations from Rwanda and from Azerbaijan and had adopted concluding observations on the periodic reports of both States parties, whose willingness to participate in a review in a hybrid format was testament to their commitment to the human rights treaty body system. The Committee had also held a meeting to update States and other stakeholders on critical issues of concern, such as migrant rights in the context of disasters, climate change, deportation, return and reintegration; the right to mental health; the rights of domestic workers in rural areas; enforced and involuntary disappearances in the context of international migration; and the link between the Convention and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

3.In addition, the Committee had launched its general comment No. 5 on migrants’ rights to liberty, freedom from arbitrary detention and their connection with other human rights at an event attended by a range of participants, including former detained migrants, members of civil society, academics and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. The Committee had continued to strengthen its partnerships with United Nations agencies and civil society organizations and had had meaningful exchanges with high-profile officials, including the Deputy Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the Special Representative on Migration and Refugees of the Council of Europe; the Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced Persons and Migrants in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; and the Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

4.In order to enhance its work and visibility, the Committee had established a working group on working methods, had designated thematic and geographical subregional focal points, as well as focal points for the 2022/23 workplan and communication strategy, and had identified the States parties whose reports were to be reviewed at the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth sessions.

5.Lastly, the Committee’s communication campaign on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rights of migrants and on equitable access to vaccines was well advanced and included video clips recorded with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Director-General of IOM.

Closure of the session

6.The Chair, following the customary exchange of courtesies, declared the thirty-third session of the Committee on Migrant Workers closed.

The meeting rose at 5.40 p.m.