Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All

Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

Thirty-ninth session

Summary record of the 577th meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Thursday, 5 December 2024, at 10 a.m.

Chair:Ms. Diallo

Contents

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 73 of the Convention (continued)

Second periodic report of Peru (continued)

The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 73 of the Convention (continued)

Second periodic report of Peru (continued) (CMW/C/PER/2; CMW/C/PER/QPR/2)

At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of Peru joined the meeting.

A representative of Peru, resuming his delegation’s replies to the questions raised at the previous meeting, said that the updated National Migration Policy would take into account the heavy migrant flows into Peru of the past few years as well as the national policy guidelines issued by the National Centre for Strategic Planning in 2018. Work on the updated Policy was being led in a participatory and collaborative process by the Intersectoral Round Table for Migration Management, which brought together representatives from various State institutions. The first stage of the process was nearing completion and, in line with the aforementioned guidelines, the Round Table would soon submit a progress report to the National Centre for Strategic Planning for its approval. The updated policy focused on four areas: Peruvians who wished to emigrate, Peruvians who were already living abroad, Peruvians who returned from living abroad and foreign nationals living in Peru. Consultations would be carried out with various stakeholders, including industry, regional and local governments, civil society and academia.

As part of the Quito Process, a regional strategy for socioeconomic integration had been developed by a group of countries, with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The strategy – which was aimed at integrating migrants, protecting their rights, harnessing their skills and promoting labour equality – would inform the updating of the Peruvian National Migration Policy.

Immigration was a topic of study at academic research centres in both public and private universities. Staff of the National Migration Authority actively participated in university forums dealing with migration issues. There was also an opportunity for universities to participate in the work of the Intersectoral Round Table for Migration Management. Workshops were held jointly with universities, most recently on the topic of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. In the lead-up to the second regional review of the Global Compact in Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held in Santiago, the Peruvian Government was holding workshops with regional and local governments, civil society and academia to inform its country report.

Pursuant to the Refugees Act and its implementing regulations, all asylum-seekers were permitted to remain in Peru legally until their cases had been definitively settled by the Special Commission for Refugees. The same Commission provided asylum-seekers with a document setting out their status, which allowed them to seek employment. As of 4 December 2024, Peru had granted refugee status to 7,210 people, including 5,358 Venezuelans; a total of 3,884 asylum applications had been rejected. As of 1 November 2024, there were 16,071 Venezuelan asylum-seekers and 1,657 asylum-seekers of other nationalities. There were 11,121 older persons and 2,483 minors seeking asylum.

A representative of Peru said that, in May 2022, the National Prison Institute had issued a directive on comprehensive care and specialized treatment for persons deprived of their liberty and for members of the prison population who required special protection. It was aimed at older adults, persons with disabilities, LGTBIQ+ persons, members of Indigenous Peoples or aboriginal peoples, Afro-Peruvians, foreigners and persons with HIV or tuberculosis. Special measures were adopted when admitting foreigners to prison, including the provision of health services, psychological assistance and other social services. More than 30 foreign prisoners had participated in the programme “Zero Illiteracy” and over 25 had joined a musical workshops initiative. Some 600 foreign prisoners had participated in the “Productive Prisons” programme, involving activities such as stone‑cutting, carpentry, pottery and baking. More than 1,300 foreign nationals in various prisons had received mental health services.

With regard to the exceptional special administrative penalty proceedings, it was important to note that no foreigners were being held in Peruvian prisons for having re-entered the country illegally. The exceptional proceedings upheld the constitutional guarantees of due process, including the services of an interpreter if a foreigner did not speak Spanish, health services, and the option to communicate with his or her consulate. If, during the proceedings, the person decided to submit an asylum application, the proceedings were immediately suspended and protection measures were applied. The exceptional proceedings were administrative and could not be likened to criminal proceedings. According to the regulations applied by the National Migration Authority, any prohibitions on re-entry into Peru should be decided taking into account the individual circumstances of the person expelled, to ensure that any restrictive measures were reasonable and proportional.

To facilitate the voting of Peruvian nationals living abroad in the 2026 elections, the National Elections Office was planning to set up additional polling stations based on the electoral rolls maintained by the National Identity and Civil Status Registry, with the support of Peruvian embassies and consulates. The National Elections Office had recently proposed a change in the law so that citizens who served as election officials would receive financial compensation; it was hoped that such an incentive would encourage more Peruvians to serve. The National Identity and Civil Status Registry had run a campaign to allow Peruvian citizens living abroad easily to obtain national identity cards through their consulates. Those citizens could renew or order a copy of their national identity card using a software application called “DNI BioFacial”. All Peruvians had an electronic national identity card, and those living abroad could, using another application, register their electronic signature, together with a PIN code, in order to vote electronically in future elections. In addition, 28 million registry acts had been digitized, so that Peruvians living abroad could obtain electronic copies of those documents.

A representative of Peru said that, while 77,000 foreign nationals were members of the national pension system, only 10 per cent of them contributed to it. Members could receive a partial retirement pension at the age of 65, provided that they had contributed for a minimum of 10 years; those who had contributed for 20 years were eligible for a full pension. According to Act No. 32123 on the modernization of the pension scheme, adopted in 2024 but not yet in force, foreigners who were in an employer-employee relationship could subscribe to the national pension scheme or to a private pension scheme, upon presentation of a valid identity document. Foreign nationals who met the relevant criteria under international agreements on social security in force in Peru were exempt from the obligation to subscribe to a pension scheme.

Anyone residing on national territory, including any Peruvians previously residing abroad who had returned home without valid health insurance, were covered by the Basic Health Insurance Plan, which gave them access to a package of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services. Although the law provided that foreigners must hold a foreigner’s identity card in order to be eligible for coverage, some 106,000 foreigners without such identification but belonging to vulnerable groups had been given health insurance free of charge. As of 30 November 2024, a total of 372,150 foreign nationals had joined the comprehensive health insurance system, 64 per cent of whom lived in Lima. Over 55 per cent of them were female, and over 85.8 per cent were Venezuelan nationals.

The National Institute of Statistics relied on three main sources of data to measure international migration in Peru: national censuses, household surveys and administrative registers. Those sources were used to identify Peruvians living abroad, Peruvians who had returned to Peru and foreign nationals living in Peru. The Institute also used mobile telephony and social media networks as supplementary sources of data. Two surveys, conducted in 2012 and 2022, had provided information on Peruvians living abroad. Work was under way to conduct a third global survey, which would cover both the Peruvian community living abroad and Peruvians who had returned home. For foreigners living in Peru, three surveys had been conducted – in 2018, 2022 and 2024. Based on the data collected, as of 30 June 2023, 3.5 million Peruvians were living abroad; of those who had returned to national territory, some 217,000 had lived abroad for over a year, had decided to return to Peru between 2010 and 2022 and had not gone abroad again.

As of 30 September 2023, some 1,355,000 foreigners had entered Peru through a migration checkpoint and had not left since. An estimated 1.8 million foreigners were residing in the country. According to data collected from surveys, around 69 per cent of the 3.5 million Peruvians living abroad were aged between 15 and 49, and 94 per cent of them lived in 13 countries. Over 50 per cent of Peruvian emigrants lived in Buenos Aires, Santiago or Madrid. The majority of those who had responded to the surveys had stated that they had emigrated primarily for economic reasons. Nearly 80 per cent were either permanent residents or citizens of their country of residence.

Just over 28 per cent of Venezuelan nationals living in Peru were children under 15, while around 64 per cent were aged between 15 and 49. Some 80 per cent of the Venezuelans living in Peru worked in commerce or the service industry. The third survey of Venezuelan nationals living in Peru covered a wide range of topics, from migration status to health and education needs. In March 2024, the National Institute of Statistics had signed a framework agreement on inter-institutional cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with a view to improving the collection and processing of data on displaced persons.

The third global survey of the Peruvian community abroad would soon be conducted. With a view to improving the measurement of international migration, the 2025 national population and housing census would include questions on the characteristics of former household members living permanently abroad. It would also be possible to determine the foreign population residing in Peru according to their country of birth and the year they entered Peru. Information for the national population and housing census was now collected over a period of three months rather than over a single day.

Mr. Ceriani Cernadas (Country Rapporteur) said that he would like to know what happened to migrants sent to the border who were nationals of non-neighbouring countries, such as Venezuela or Haiti, and whether it was feasible to uphold due process guarantees within the short time frame envisaged for expulsion procedures. He wondered whether the State party had evaluated the impact of deploying the armed forces at the border and imposing visa requirements, as evidence showed that such measures often pushed migrants fleeing humanitarian crises towards dangerous, clandestine entry channels.

He wished to know roughly how many rejected asylum-seekers were in an irregular situation; whether asylum-seekers were given a foreigner’s identity card to facilitate their access to a work permit and essential services; whether a foreigner’s identity card was required to obtain a disability certificate; and whether there were obstacles to birth and nationality registration for children born in Peru to migrant women in an irregular situation. He would also like to have more information about the implementation of the protocol of the special protection units for migrant children and adolescents and about the steps taken to ensure that the rights and best interests of the child were taken into account in the context of court cases related to irregular migration.

He would be grateful for further information on any initiatives in place to foster the social inclusion and labour market integration of the migrant population, and on any measures that had been implemented to respond to the increase in Peruvian nationals using the dangerous migration pathway through the Darien Gap on the border between Colombia and Panama.

It would be of interest to know what measures were being implemented to guarantee the labour rights of female migrant domestic workers and to prevent, detect and punish acts of harassment or violence committed against them. He also wondered whether the State party intended to facilitate the recognition of foreign workers’ professional qualifications and to reform the legislation that imposed a 20 per cent limit on the proportion of foreign workers in a company’s workforce.

It would be useful to learn whether there was a mechanism that allowed migrant workers who had lost their job to seek employment while maintaining their residency status. He would also like to obtain further information on the company inspections carried out by the National Labour Inspection Authority, which appeared to constitute a form of migratory control, and on the audits of remittances sent by migrants to their families, which seemed to question the legality of such remittances. He wished to know whether migrants, regardless of their residency status, had the right to join a union, and whether measures had been implemented to promote unionization and the protection of the rights of vulnerable workers. Lastly, he wondered whether children over the age of 5 had free access to the comprehensive health insurance system.

Mr. Corzo Sosa (Country Rapporteur) said that he wished to know whether there were any fringe costs involved in obtaining a disability certificate, how long the process took and whether the recognition of persons with disabilities extended to laws and policies aimed at migrant workers and their families. He would be grateful if the State party could provide a time frame for the entry into force of the law permitting non-resident foreigners diagnosed with tuberculosis or HIV to obtain temporary access to national healthcare services. It would be of interest to learn why Decree No. 1350, under which foreigners were obliged to prove a regular migratory status before renting a property, had been approved despite its rejection by the executive branch. He would like to know whether there were any population surveys aimed at foreign migrants other than Venezuelans.

He wondered whether the mandate of the national human rights institution included people in the context of migration and whether its budget was autonomous or was dependant on the national budget. He would be grateful if the delegation could comment on troubling reports relating to the obstacles faced by migrants regarding access to justice, the higher income tax of 30 per cent paid by non-domiciled workers compared to the progressive tax paid by domiciled workers, and asylum-seekers’ inability to access healthcare services if they lacked a foreigner’s identity card.

Mr. Charef (Country Rapporteur) said that he wished to know whether it was true that a double limit had been imposed on the employment of foreign workers as, in addition to the aforementioned 20 per cent quota, it had been reported that the combined salaries of foreign workers could not exceed 30 per cent of the payroll. He would welcome a response from the State party regarding reports that a financial solvency certificate was required in order to obtain access to higher education and vocational training. He would also be grateful for more information on the current situation of Venezuelan migrants at the national border, in the light of reports that Venezuelan migrant camps had been set up.

Remittances, which were as important for the Peruvian economy as exports or foreign direct investment, appeared to account for a large proportion of the country’s foreign currency supply. He would therefore like to hear more about the measures taken or envisaged by the State party to encourage and facilitate the transfer of remittances by migrant workers to and from Peru and to encourage migrant workers to channel their savings into productive and profitable investments outside the construction sector. He wished to know what steps the State party had taken to update its legal framework in the light of the obligations it had assumed under the Convention, how it monitored the implementation of the Convention on the ground and how it measured the effective enjoyment of the rights enshrined therein by migrant workers, irrespective of their migration situation.

As he understood it, more than half of migrants of Peruvian origin were women, many of whom ended up working in the domestic service or care sector, which tended to receive less scrutiny from labour inspectors, even in developed countries. Moreover, it seemed that many of those women left their children behind in Peru. He wondered whether the State party had conducted any studies on the situation of those children and the current whereabouts of their mothers, and how it supported Peruvian migrant women in the countries where they settled.

Mr. Taghi-Zada said that it would be helpful to receive information on the staffing levels in the State party’s diplomatic and consular offices in the countries that received the largest number of Peruvian migrant workers. Were those officials trained to inform migrants about their rights and how to exercise them from abroad and to assist migrants if they encountered problems with the authorities. Statistical data on the number of Peruvian migrant workers who had received diplomatic or consular assistance abroad would likewise be appreciated.

Mr. Oumaria said that many Latin American countries had received a massive influx of Venezuelan migrants seeking asylum or international protection. While the reasons for those migration movements were well known, the way in which the migrants had been received and the lack of solidarity shown by many countries in the region was deeply troubling. While Peru had the right to protect its borders, it was also required to fulfil its international obligations vis-à-vis migrants wishing to seek refuge in its territory. He would welcome additional information on the situation of Venezuelan migrants in the State party.

Ms. Gahar said that the delegation might provide additional information on the visa regime currently applicable to Venezuelan nationals. Specifically, she wished to know whether any adaptations had been made to respond to the needs of Venezuelan migrants seeking asylum or international protection and what conditions Venezuelan migrants who had left Peru needed to meet in order to obtain permission to re-enter the country. She would also be interested to hear about the lessons learned by the State party during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in relation to supporting Peruvian nationals abroad. It would be useful to know whether the State party’s programmes to promote self-employment and entrepreneurship included specific measures for women. She hoped to receive statistical data on the participants in such programmes.

The Committee would also welcome information on the results yielded by the State party’s programme to protect migrant children who were at risk of economic and other forms of exploitation in mining regions in the Andes and on the decent employment opportunities that might be available to their families. Had migrant or unaccompanied children been able to exercise their right to be heard in the context of that programme?

The Committee had received reports that, in certain shelters, girls who were victims of sexual exploitation often experienced revictimization. She wished to know whether the girls living in those shelters underwent a risk assessment on arrival and what psychosocial care was available to them. Moreover, according to information in the Committee’s possession, a high percentage of children in Peru, particularly girls, lived in conditions of slavery and were vulnerable to trafficking in persons. She would be grateful if the delegation could comment on the situation with regard to slavery in the State party and, if possible, provide statistical data.

Ms. Dzumhur said that the delegation might provide an overview of the measures taken to facilitate the social integration of the large number of Peruvian migrants, particularly women, who had returned to Peru since 2010 and indicate which State agencies were responsible for overseeing that process. Information on the measures taken or envisaged by the State party to meet the objectives set out in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration would also be appreciated, as would details of the steps taken to provide migrants in an irregular situation, including undocumented migrants working in the informal sector, with access to healthcare.

She wished to know how the State party dealt with mixed migration flows, ensuring that the differing needs of migrant workers and persons seeking international protection were met, and what steps it was taking to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and gender-diverse migrant workers from discrimination. It would also be useful to know whether the State party had a gender equality law and what role the national human rights institution played in monitoring the situation of migrants in the country.

The delegation might inform the Committee about the steps taken or envisaged by the State party to improve inspection procedures for domestic workers and to ensure that such procedures covered compliance with legal provisions on remuneration and social assistance. She also hoped to hear about plans to increase the frequency of inspections, particularly since Peru was now a party to the ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). Details of the measures taken to implement the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) in respect of domestic workers would also be welcome. Data collection, which was key to designing effective strategies to prevent and combat trafficking in persons and sexual and labour exploitation, remained a challenge in Peru. Lastly, she wished to know what the State party was doing to address the high level of maternal mortality among women in Peru, including women migrant workers.

The meeting was suspended at 11.35 a.m. and resumed at 12.15 p.m.

A representative of Peru said that the exceptional special administrative penalty proceedings were regulated by the protocol on inter-institutional coordination between the Peruvian National Police and the National Migration Authority, which delineated responsibilities and established time frames, modalities and procedural guarantees that must be respected in that connection. Foreign nationals in conflict with the law were entitled to request assistance from their country’s diplomatic or consular office, enlist the services of an interpreter or translator and, if necessary, request a public defender to assist them.

Under migration law, the Peruvian National Police was responsible for carrying out expulsion orders. The foreign national to be expelled was informed of their right to communicate with a consular representative, in keeping with the international treaties to which Peru was a party. If the person to be expelled was a national of a neighbouring country, their expulsion was coordinated with the authorities of the country in question. To date, administrative expulsion decisions had been issued in respect of 1,332 Venezuelan nationals and 23 Haitian nationals. Those decisions had been duly motivated and the accompanying procedural guarantees had been respected.

The Peruvian National Police had a constitutional mandate to prevent, investigate and combat crime and to monitor and control the country’s borders. The police acted in accordance with Supreme Decree No. 002-2023-MIMP, which established protocols for joint State action in contexts of detention and intervention affecting women and vulnerable persons, which included migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees. With the adoption of Supreme Decree No. 003-2024-PCM declaring a state of emergency in the border provinces in northern Peru, the Peruvian National Police had been given responsibility for maintaining internal order, with the support of the armed forces. That exceptional measure had been imposed in response to mounting insecurity in certain border areas caused by drug trafficking, trafficking in persons and illegal mining. Without prejudice to the rights restricted by the imposition of the state of emergency, the Peruvian National Police and the armed forces had acted in accordance with international human rights principles and standards for the use of force. The state of emergency had lasted for 60 days, after which it had remained in effect only in the province of Zarumilla in the Department of Tumbes.

In Peru, all persons had a statutory right to receive medical care. The Framework Act on Universal Health Insurance allowed pregnant migrant women, including those in an irregular situation, to join the comprehensive health insurance system on a temporary basis and to receive care during the prenatal, childbirth and perinatal stages. The comprehensive health insurance system also covered the cost of care for uninsured vulnerable persons requiring urgent medical attention. The irregular migration situation of the parents of a child born in Peru was not a bar to the child’s acquiring Peruvian nationality, in accordance with the Constitution and the Nationality Act.

In Peru, all children and adolescents, especially those classed as vulnerable, were cared for in accordance with the principles of equality and non-discrimination. Legislative Decrees No. 1350 and No. 1297 provided that unaccompanied children were to be cared for and protected by the migration authorities, the child protection services and special protection units, which assessed their immediate protection needs and ensured the fulfilment of their rights, including the right to a special residence status in Peru. The protocol for the provision of care by special protection units to refugee and migrant children and adolescents who were without parental care or at risk of losing it, which made provision for family reunification, had been designed to reinforce the protection afforded to that vulnerable population group.

Within that framework, the Peruvian child protection services had been coordinating with their counterparts in Brazil, Chile and Colombia to facilitate the safe transfer of unaccompanied migrant or refugee children to third countries so that they could be reunited with their families. The Peruvian child protection services likewise coordinated with the consular offices of the countries of origin of migrant children who had been separated from their families and – provided that they were not seeking asylum or international protection and that doing so was in the child’s best interests – arranged the children’s safe return to their country of origin where they could rejoin their families. Furthermore, the Ministry for Women and Vulnerable Groups had signed a memorandum of understanding with UNHCR with the aim of strengthening the professional competencies of special protection units in the provision of care to migrant and refugee children.

Since 2018, the National Labour Inspection Authority had carried out a total of 1,550 inspection orders related to the foreign workforce. In terms of prevention, since 2020, the Authority had provided guidance to 388 employers and 4,907 workers regarding compliance with current regulations on foreign workers. Measures taken under the action plan for the enforcement of domestic workers’ rights included the country’s participation in the “Opening Doors” project implemented by ILO, which was aimed at improving the situation of domestic workers; the implementation of a pilot project with the municipality of Miraflores to promote respect for the labour rights of domestic workers; and the forming of strategic partnerships with private companies and the urban transport authority of Lima and Callao to raise awareness about the labour rights of domestic workers.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducted two annual training sessions on the Convention for all its diplomatic and administrative staff working abroad. The training covered topics related to protecting and assisting Peruvian migrants, including the rights enjoyed by Peruvian nationals outside the country. Pursuant to the consular regulations laid down in Supreme Decree No. 032-2023-RE, consular offices provided Peruvian nationals living abroad, regardless of their migratory situation, with the advice necessary to enable them to overcome legal difficulties. Consular offices also played a key role in promoting the regularization of the migration situation of Peruvian nationals so that they could find work in the formal sector.

The strategy for socioeconomic integration, which had been mentioned previously, envisaged a scenario where, in the future, migrants and refugees would not generate additional bureaucracy for employers or require them to comply with hiring quotas or salary caps, such as those established in Legislative Decree No. 689. The strategy included a proposal to assess the continued relevance of existing hiring quotas and salary caps, especially in companies with foreign capital and in micro- and small businesses. Such an assessment would be conducted in due course.

A representative of Peru said that persons applying for resident worker status were required to present an employment contract of a duration of at least one year or a document providing evidence of self-employment. Successful applicants who subsequently lost their job would continue to enjoy resident worker status until their permit expired. In the event that they failed to obtain a new job before the expiry date, they could apply for one of the other types of migration status provided for in Legislative Decree No. 1350. Vulnerable individuals who did not meet the requirements for any of those statuses were entitled to request special residency status or the application of protection measures. The National Labour Inspection Authority was not mandated to handle migration-related issues; its main duties were to monitor companies’ compliance with labour and occupational health and safety laws and to hand down sanctions for any breaches.

Children above the age of 5 who attended public schools and received support through the Qali Warma National School Nutrition Programme were enrolled in the comprehensive health system. Other persons – including pregnant women, children under 5, persons deprived of their liberty and children in residential care homes – also had guaranteed access to that system, even if they did not possess a foreigner’s identity card. An act under which foreigners with tuberculosis or HIV were provided with access to the system’s subsidized financing plan had been adopted on 5 November 2024. Refugees could join the system using their temporary foreigner’s identity card, which was issued on humanitarian grounds. Individuals who were ineligible for enrolment in the system but could prove that they were living in poverty or extreme poverty were entitled to a full or partial exemption from the payment of healthcare costs.

The Government had run pilot programmes aimed at helping migrants, refugees and other vulnerable groups secure decent employment. In view of the growing number of female migrants, it planned to organize a specific programme for women heads of family. Steps had been taken to provide migrant and refugee entrepreneurs with technical assistance and access to financing. The Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion organized job fairs at which it promoted vacancies at companies in the formal sector. Job seekers could participate in skills certification programmes, and events were run to help build their competencies.

A representative of Peru said that children born in the country to foreign parents faced no discrimination. Such children could be registered free of charge at the offices set up by the National Identity and Civil Status Registry in hospitals and other healthcare establishments. They received birth certificates and a national identity document, which would enable them to be enrolled in the comprehensive health system and social programmes. There were no requirements concerning the type of identity document to be submitted by migrants with disabilities in order to obtain a free disability certificate.

Applicants for refugee status were issued with a temporary foreigner’s identity card that enabled them to live and work in Peru while their application was being processed. Between May and October 2024, applicants had been invited to use an online link to confirm whether they wished to continue with the application process. The purpose of that exercise, which had been supported by UNHCR and the Office of the Ombudsperson, had been to give the Government a more accurate idea of the number of applications that remained pending. Sixteen meetings had been held with migrant organizations in order to raise awareness of the importance of the exercise. Applicants had been informed that failure to participate would lead to the closure of their case and the invalidation of their identity card. The Government would now give priority to the cases of the 16,637 applicants who had participated in the scheme and would close the cases of those who had not done so by January 2025.

Venezuelan nationals accounted for approximately 87 per cent of migrants in Peru. The Government had conducted three surveys to ascertain their exact number and assess their socioeconomic situation. Just 19.2 per cent of Venezuelan migrants of working age had a proper employment contract. Studies on the foreign population as a whole were regularly carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Information Management. It was hoped that the 2025 census would provide an overview of the situation of the country’s foreign population and information on Peruvians who had migrated abroad, including the number of Peruvian mothers who had migrated without their children.

Mr. Ceriani Cernadas said that, in a very short amount of time, the State party had transitioned from being a country of origin to being one of transit and destination. The Committee was aware of the challenges presented by the arrival of significant numbers of vulnerable individuals and had taken note of the various steps being taken to address that situation. He remained concerned that a large number of Venezuelan migrants had been in an irregular situation for more than five years and were thus unable to work in the State party. It was also troubling that efforts to promote the inclusion and regularization of migrants were being undermined by the adoption of reforms that reflected the growing tendency in the State party to view migrants as a security threat. Rather than continuing along that path, he hoped that the authorities would harness the opportunities presented by the current situation in order to improve the protection of migrants’ rights and enhance living standards for both Peruvians and foreigners.

Mr. Charef said that the migration situation in the State party was certainly unique in nature. He was hopeful that the Venezuelan migrants would one day be able to return to their home country, which meant that the challenges facing the State party should be temporary. The fact that those challenges had given the State party a reason to review its legal framework on migration could be considered a positive outcome.

Mr. Corzo Sosa said that he was aware of the significant work that went into preparing reports for submission to the human rights treaty bodies. While he wished to thank the State party for its efforts in that regard, he hoped that it would be able to submit its next periodic report to the Committee within the set time frame.

A representative of Peru said that he would like to thank the Committee members for their invaluable questions and comments. His Government recognized the historic contributions that migrants had made to Peruvian society and would draw on that experience in order to address the current challenges with optimism and determination. An event offering migrant and refugee children and young persons the opportunity to present artwork depicting their experiences of adapting to Peruvian life had been held the previous day at the cultural centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Managing the unprecedented levels of migration in the region represented a significant challenge. Nonetheless, the current situation also offered opportunities to strengthen the relevant institutions and laws and to develop more inclusive and effective public policies that would benefit both foreigners in Peru and Peruvians abroad. Steps would continue to be taken to improve regularization processes and implement policies that facilitated the effective integration of migrants. The Committee’s recommendations would be carefully analysed and would inform efforts to update the National Migration Policy. The Government remained firmly committed to protecting and promoting the rights of migrant workers and their families and attached great importance to the role played by the Committee in facilitating international cooperation in that area.

The Chair said that she wished to thank the delegation for its active participation in the dialogue and to encourage the State party to take all the measures necessary to implement the Committee’s recommendations.

The meeting rose at 1.05 p.m.