Migrants and the Mediterranean - UN rights expert visits Italy to follow up on EU border management study

GENEVA (1 December 2014) – UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, will visit Italy from 2 to 5 December 2014 as a follow-up to his 2012 year-long study on the management of the external borders of the European Union, which took him to Tunisia, Turkey, Greece and Brussels where he met with EU Institutions. Crépeau will also visit Malta from 6 to 10 December in this regard.

“This year, we have seen an unprecedented number of migrants and asylum seekers arrive in the Euro-Mediterranean region. Italy’s long coastline, and proximity to North Africa, continues to make it a key point of entry for many migrants seeking to reach Europe,” Crépeau said.

During the mission to Italy, the human rights expert will meet with a range of Government officials responsible for border management, international organisations, migrant organisations, and migrants themselves, to discuss the complex management of the Italian border.

At the end of the mission, the UN Special Rapporteur will share his preliminary conclusions at a press conference on 5 December 2014 at 12pm, at the Italian Society For International Organization, Piazza di San Marco, 51, 00186 Roma. Details of the press conference in Malta will be made available in the coming days.

The Special Rapporteur’s study will result in a follow-up country mission report and a thematic report on EU border management to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2015.

ENDS

François Crépeau (Canada) was appointed Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants in June 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council, for an initial period of three years. As Special Rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity. Mr. Crépeau is also Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of McGill University, in Montréal, where he holds the Hans and Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law and is scientific director of the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Migration/SRMigrants/Pages/SRMigrantsIndex.aspx

Check the Open Letter by the Special Rapporteur on EU border management:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15119&LangID=E

Read the International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CMW.aspx

UN Human Rights, Country Page – Italy: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/ITIndex.aspx

For more information and media requests, please contact:
Elizabeth Wabuge (+41 79 201 0122 / ewabuge@ohchr.org)

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)

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