A question of data

A critical lack of data collection and disaggregation by migrant status conceals exclusion and inequalities and makes it difficult to measure progress and dismantle entrenched patterns of discrimination. Where a group of people is socially, economically or politically excluded, or where chronic human rights violations are not recognized by the state, the relevant data tends not to be systematically collected, leading to vicious cycles of exclusion. Experience has shown that issues relating to migrants tend to become blind spots when priorities are set, policies defined or budgets allocated with resulting gaps in monitoring and accountability. […] It is important that a new sustainable development agenda encourages stakeholders to seek out new and innovative data sources to measure and monitor the development progress of all migrants, including migrants in an irregular situation. Moreover, to ensure the visibility of both men and women in migration, all data should be sex disaggregated.

Including migrants in the post-2015 development agenda, GMG, Working Group on Migration, Human Rights and Gender, Position Document, May 2014 [footnotes omitted].

Box 5.18 Migration and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Migration features in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the post-2015 UN sustainable development agenda. Specifically, in SDG 8 on the promotion of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, target 8.8 is concerned with the need to

“protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment”. Two other explicitly migration-related targets are found in SDG 10 on reducing inequality within and among countries:

• Target 10.7 - facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies;

• Target 10.c – by 2030, reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent.

SDG 17 on strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development contains target 17.18 on enhancing

“capacity building support to developing countries […] to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by [inter alia]

migratory status”.

The SDGs also contain other targets equally relevant for migrants and enjoyment of their rights to social protection (1.3), safe, nutritious and sufficient food (2.1), health (3.8), education (4.1 – 4.5), safe and affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene (6.1 – 6.2), full and productive employment and decent work (8.5), and equal access to justice (16.3), in a non-discriminatory and participatory way (10.2 – 10.3). The use of inclusive language in these targets (namely, the references to “all”) underscores that no one, including migrants, should be left behind.

Moreover, the financing for development action agenda also recognizes inter alia:

• The positive contribution of migrants for inclusive growth and sustainable development in countries of origin, transit and destination, with specific reference to the role of migrant worker remittances;

• The need for international cooperation to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration, with full respect for human rights; and

• The need to promote and protect effectively the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, especially those of women and children, regardless of their migration status.

Sources:

– Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Finalised text for adoption (1 August).

– Outcome document of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development: Addis Ababa Action Agenda, Addis Ababa, 13 – 16 July 2015, A/CONF.227/L.1 (15 July 2015), paras. 40 and 111.

Conclusion

Multilateral discussions on international migration governance over the years have tended to focus on its repercussions for development. But while the discussions on that track have been fruitful, the importance and centrality of the human rights perspective should not be overlooked. Viewing migration through that lens is crucial in its own right as well as in the context of the migration-development nexus, because human rights are intrinsic to all human beings, regardless of their instrumental value as

“units of labour” or “agents of development”. This is expressed most eloquently in one of the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Philadelphia (see Chapter 2), adopted 70 years ago as an annex to the ILO Constitution: “labour is not a commodity”. In this context, it is important to remember the central challenge for the post-2015 development agenda as identified in the report of the UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda, Realizing the Future We Want For All: “to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the worlds’ peoples of present and future generations” (p. i). Parliamentarians can thus play an important role in ensuring that this agenda and its implementation give due attention to the inclusion of migrants and that human rights principles are adequately reflected in the governance of international migration.

Checklist for parliamentarians

What action can parliamentarians take to improve the human rights-based governance of migration at the local, regional, national and international level?

5 Parliamentarians need to recognize the importance of and promote an inclusive dialogue on migration:

– Governance of migration is not only a matter for governments or states but engages a variety of actors, such as relevant ministries (e.g. labour, foreign affairs, interior, education and social affairs), parliamentarians themselves, national human rights institutions, local and regional authorities, international organizations and non-governmental stakeholders, such as representative worker and employer organizations. Non-government organizations, diaspora and migrants’ associations should also be consulted.

– Parliamentarians should communicate with as many actors as possible.

5 Parliamentarians should advocate more migration governance. Improving cooperation and coordination on migration does not limit national sovereignty; on the contrary, sovereignty could in fact be limited more by insufficient migration governance and a highly unregulated and fragmented system with multiple and often competing actors.

5 Parliamentarians should propose, be kept informed of discussions on, and be required to endorse the following tools of migration governance, with due regard to human rights considerations:

– Bilateral agreements or less formal non-binding MoUs, such as those on labour migration, including the recruitment and treatment of migrant workers in particular sectors of the economy (e.g. domestic work).

– Agreements and policies at the regional level to facilitate the mobility of people within a region or sub-region, including for the purpose of employment.

5 Parliamentarians also need to be aware of and receive regular reports from governments regarding their participation in informal governmental processes on migration, such as RCPs and GFMD.

5 Parliamentarians can play an important role in encouraging governments to discuss migration within the UN system, enabling them to benefit from:

– standard setting and normative oversight of UN and ILO supervisory mechanisms;

– human rights-based dialogue and cooperation on migration;

– technical assistance and capacity development; and – a knowledge base.

5 Parliamentarians need to support the work of national human rights institutions and advocate the introduction of indicators on the human rights of migrants,

thus helping to plan for and improve the implementation of international human rights law and international labour standards at the national level with regard to all migrants irrespective of their migration status.

5 Parliamentarians are encouraged to advocate the inclusion of targets with respect to migrants and migration under the relevant post-2015 sustainable development goals (e.g. decent work, reducing inequality, peaceful societies) and the

systematic disaggregation of indicators by migrant status (including nationality), and to ensure that implementation of the post-2015 development agenda gives due attention to the protection of the human rights of migrants.