Committee on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers concludes its thirtieth session

ROUNDUP

Adopts Concluding Observations and Recommendations on the Reports of Albania, Guatemala, Tajikistan and Libya

GENEVA (12 April 2019) - The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families this afternoon closed its thirtieth session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Albania, Guatemala, Tajikistan and Libya on their implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

Ahmadou Tall, Committee Chairperson, in his concluding remarks, highlighted the Committee’s accomplishments this session, which included the interactive dialogues with the above mentioned States parties, the adoption of the lists of issues for Bolivia and Cabo Verde, as well as the list of issues prior to reporting for Sao Tome and Principe.  The Committee, the Chair continued, discussed with Member States of the Economic Community of West African States broader ratification and implementation of the Convention, and had a deep and meaningful exchange with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe González Morales, including on cooperation on joint initiatives.  The Migration Team of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights briefed the Committee on the Global Compact for Migration, the United Nations Migration Network, the Global Forum on Migration and Development, and on migration-related activities of the Office.

During the session, the Committee established a new working group on the interface between the Convention and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which was adopted by the General Assembly in December 2018.  It continued the elaboration of new general comment No. 5 on the right to liberty of migrants and protection against arbitrary detention and adopted its contribution to developing a treaty body oriented position for the 2020 review of the General Assembly with a view to strengthening the treaty body system.  The Chair also recalled that the Committee discussed its communication strategy to strengthen its engagement with the media, updated its work-plan for the year, reviewed a follow-up report and assessment for Honduras, and adopted the annual report on the twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions.   The Committee was briefed by the International Social Service on the launch of its Massive Open Online Course on Children on the Move.

Looking forward, following its thirty-first session in September 2019, the Committee would hold an informal brainstorming meeting in Baku and meet with the officials from the Government of Azerbaijan, which had generously agreed to cover the related costs for the Committee Experts and the Secretariat, concluded Mr. Tall, and thanked all the Committee Members, the colleagues from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and all those who had supported the organization and holding of the session.

The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on the four countries considered during the session will be available after 12 April on the session’s webpage.  Press releases on the public meetings during which the reports were considered are available on the webpage of the United Nations Office at Geneva, while webcasts of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed here.

At the beginning of the session, Committee Members held a minute of silence to pay tribute to Committee Member Abdelhamid El Jamri from Morocco, who recently passed away.  The Committee heard two new Committee Members make their solemn declaration, Mohammed Charef from Morocco who replaced Mr. El Jamri, and Lazhar Soualem from Algeria, who replaced Khedidja Ladjel, who also passed away last year.  The Committee had paid tribute to Ms. Ladjel at its twenty-ninth session.

The Committee will hold its thirty-first session from 2 to 11 September 2019, during which it will review the reports of Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Colombia.

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For use of the information media; not an official record