Panel discussion on immigration and human rights School of Law, University of California, Davis

Greetings to all of you, and thank you to the University of California, Davis for the invitation to be a part of such a critical conversation.

Since the beginning of time, people have been on the move. Migration is a fundamental and enduring part of our story as human beings. It has expanded our horizons and opportunities and it has united us as a global family.

Here in the United States, you have more international migrants than in any other country in the world. Migrants have made a crucial contribution to innovation, to business, to the education system, to civil society and to governance. It is encouraging to know that an overwhelming majority of US citizens – 86% - support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Regrettably, this does not reflect the situation for all migrants around the world.

Often forced to live in the shadows, many migrants, including those who are undocumented, endure persistent violations and abuses of their human rights. They face disproportionate disregard for their dignity.

The consequences can be lethal.

Every day brings news of tragic events unfolding around the world: from mass loss of life in the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the Andaman Sea, to the deaths and disappearances of migrants on their journeys through the Sahara Desert or in migration corridors in the Americas.

For far too many, neither water nor land is safe.

Already this year, we know that more than 270 migrants have died or gone missing during their journey in search of safety and dignity. The real figure is certainly far higher.

The global community is taking some positive steps to protect and promote the rights of migrants. We have seen a number of trends in the right direction, including the free movement and economic integration of European Union nationals within European territory, and similar agreements for nationals of countries withing the Economic Community of West African States. Countries in Latin America also have a long history and tradition of freedom of movement and intraregional migration.

I applaud the efforts of many countries to welcome migrants. Millions of Venezuelans who have been compelled to leave their homes have now found safety in neighbouring countries. In the past six weeks, we have also seen an outpouring of support for Ukrainian refugees in many nations around the world.

Yet it is clear that this encouraging trend of solidarity is not being extended to all migrants and refugees.

We need more countries to follow similar good practices, and to ramp up other efforts to promote and protect the human rights of migrants.

Unmistakably, there is room for the international community to do much more to ensure safety and dignity for all migrants, no matter where they come from.

Many Governments are implementing increasingly harsh and restrictive migration policies. Whether people are migrating in the search for decent work or better opportunities. Whether they want to reunite with their families. Whether they have been compelled to leave their homes because of conflict, food insecurity, humanitarian crisis, poverty, lack of access to healthcare or climate change. Whatever their situation, hundreds of thousands are forced to take risky routes, or even to rely on people smugglers to facilitate their journey.

Safe and regular migration pathways – pathways that should be afforded to anyone who chooses to move – are all too often out of reach.

The immense crisis caused by the pandemic has disproportionately affected the world’s most marginalized. Migrants have not been spared. Already stigmatized and discriminated, they have struggled to access basic services such as healthcare and education. Border closures or tightened border restrictions have undermined their rights to asylum or due process guarantees.

Our laws, policies and practices are pushing migrants even further to the fringes of our societies. They are frequently criminalized, detained or deported. And when border security so often takes precedence over human security, they are denied access to protection.

These same laws, policies and practices are stripping people of migration status, rendering them invisible to the systems that are supposedly built to support them.

States have an inherent responsibility to respect international human rights law, and the treaties and instruments that they have freely adopted to protect the human rights of migrants.

Friends,

We need to raise the alarm about the rampant and pervasive culture of impunity for human rights violations and abuses committed against migrants in every corner of the world.

We need to shed light on the disturbing lack of transparency and accountability for migration officials. We need stronger analysis on the increasing use of artificial intelligence and technology to govern borders and its consequences on migrants’ right to privacy.

It is unacceptable that migrants face violence and extortion at borders. It is intolerable that that they are unlawfully profiled, actively discriminated against or painted as security threats.

While States may have legitimate interests to exercise immigration controls – including to protect human rights and to counter terrorism – it is extremely harmful to view border governance primarily or solely through a national security lens. Men are often wrongly seen as security threats simply because of their gender, for example, and racist or Islamophobic approaches at borders are all too commonplace.

Thousands today remain stranded at borders, unable to leave or enter countries, and without access to healthcare or other services. Countless others face pushbacks or are forcibly returned, in flagrant violation of the principle of non-refoulement and in prohibition of collective expulsion.

And tens of thousands of adults and children are detained arbitrarily or for prolonged periods simply because they chose to exercise their right to move in search of safety and dignity.

This cannot continue to be the status quo.

Migration policies can mean the difference between life and death. It is for this reason that they must be based on human rights. They should provide access to regular and safe migration pathways. They must provide effective and dignified alternatives to immigration detention.

My Office is working closely with States, civil society organisations, National Human Rights Institutions and human rights defenders to help build better migration policies.

Policies that can close the vast and unjust protection gaps that millions of migrants face.

Systems that identify and respond to migrants’ specific needs are systems that will ensure human rights can be enjoyed by all. They include policies and practices that facilitate – rather than hinder – safe and effective governance of borders. These systems mean migrants will be assisted, and they will be protected from harm and regardless of their migration status.

They will not suffer discrimination. They will not be criminalized.

Ensuring a whole of society approach is also crucial in this endeavour. Academia for example can play a key role in collecting and using accurate and disaggregated data to help develop migration policies based on evidence. Additionally, diasporas, local communities, civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians, trade unions, National Human Rights Institutions and the media can all contribute to improved migration governance.

Most importantly, I cannot emphasise enough the role of migrants themselves to contribute their voices to decision-making on policies that directly affect them.

My Office has developed a range of capacity-building tools and continues to provide technical support to Governments to ensure that migration governance efforts comply with international laws and standards. In the context of the pandemic, my Office has been working hard to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for all migrants, as well as the integration of migrants within national public health policies and programs.

We are also supporting Governments to uphold the Global Compact on Migration’s guiding principles on human rights. Our guidelines on human rights at international borders and on the protection of migrants in vulnerable situations are assisting these efforts.

Friends,

One thing remains clear: Because conflicts continue to rage around the world, because climate change increasingly renders entire regions uninhabitable, because people want to reunite with their families, because poverty or food insecurity is pushing them from home, or simply because people want to begin a new life, people will continue to migrate.

Migration will always remain a part of our human story.

The path to the enjoyment of human rights for all migrants – regardless of their status - depends on the action that all societies take now to develop, implement and maintain better and stronger policies that promise to protect them.

My Office remains committed to support this vital work.

Let me thank you for your efforts in joining us to ensure no one is left behind.

I look forward to an enriching and productive discussion ahead.