SUNS  4336 Wednesday 2 December 1998



UNITED NATIONS: GOVERNMENTS ACCUSED OF DOUBLE TALK ON MIGRANTS

Geneva, Nov 30 (IPS/Gustavo Capdevila) - A United Nations human rights working group has accused governments of double talk on the human rights of immigrants world-wide.

Jorge Bustamente, head of the intergovernmental working group of experts on the human rights of migrants, said "there is a contrast between "what the countries say and what they do" on the issue.

The UN body said the States do not understand the risk posed to international stability by the violation of the human rights of immigrants.

This working group, created by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, is charged with examining the increasing incidence of racism, xenophobia and discrimination against immigrants.

Figures supplied by the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) estimated the number of emigrants around the world at 120 million.

Meanwhile, the International Organisation for Migrations (IOM), put  the figure of migrant workers at some 85 million.

Bustamente, a Mexican-born academic, stated the violation of the fundamental human rights of immigrants occurs as a result of their structural vulnerability.

The immigrants, like indigenous populations and minorities, lack protection, said Bustamente during sessions by the working group recently in Geneva.

In an effort to better protect migrants, the UN general assembly approved an International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migratory Workers and their Families.

But the Convention has not yet come into effect, as it has only gained the ratification of 10 countries, when 20 are needed to make it binding.

The ratifying countries are: Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Colombia, Egypt, the Philippines, Morocco, the Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Uganda.

"We will witness a persistent lack of respect for migrant rights" until the Convention is implemented, warned US-born Patrick Taran, chair of the board of directors of the world campaign for ratification.

The governments recognise they are facing human rights problems with immigrants, but they do nothing, as can be seen in nations' responses to a questionnaire from the UN working group, added Bustamente.

"We are up against an underlying hypocrisy between statements of concern over the human rights of migrants and resistance to ratifying the convention," said the expert.

This attitude shows the governments are unaware the problem has another dimension, he said, explaining interest in the human rights of migrants is not simply a matter of charity.

On the contrary, the question of the human rights of these groups has the potential to affect the stability of international relations over the next 10 years. Protecting human rights of migrants would contain the growth of this possible destabilisation element, said Bustamente. Ignorance of the true nature of the problem can seen "in our societies," where many families benefit from the help of foreign au pairs allowing housewives and mothers to rejoin the workforce." At the same time, immigrants are widely labelled as "criminals," he said.

Taran, representing the World Council of Churches mentioned that attacks, brutalities and violation of the human rights of immigrants occur with increasing frequency "not only in the Western industrialised countries, but in all parts of the world."

Speaking of his own experience, Taran cited abuse committed in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Argentina, South Africa, the Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The working group identified three especially vulnerable migrant groups, with women and children ranking as those whose rights are most in need of protection.

Women and children have often been submitted to enforced prostitution or activities bordering on slavery, stated Bustamente.

Another group at risk is that of domestic workers, due to their isolation, and the gender issue also intervenes here, he said. And a third group consists of rural migrant workers, living in conditions
violating basic human rights worldwide.

Bimal Gosh, of India, one of the working group's leading experts, said the countries of the industrial North are seeing an alarming boom of their "black economy."

The informal sector's share of Europe's Gross Domestic Product rose to five percent in 1970, but hit 17 percent this year, said Gosh.

This sector uses the work of immigrants and is beyond the control of the State agencies responsible for getting labour regulations fulfilled, he explained.

Data received by the working group state the Philippines is the biggest source of emigrants (11 percent), followed by Mexico (eight percent) and then two industrialised countries, Spain (seven) and Italy (five percent).

Meanwhile, the countries with the highest percentages of non-nationalised citizens authorised to work are, in order, Germany, Argentina, Denmark, Lebanon and Malaysia.