Protection of Migrants

A/RES/60/169No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 71bHuman rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2006.

What other versions does this mandate have?

22 versions · 2000–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/218

2025A/RES/80/218Protection of migrantsLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/217Protection of migrantsCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/172Protection of migrantsCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/74/148Protection of migrantsCompare with previous version
2018A/RES/72/179Protection of migrantsCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What does this mandate say?

33 operative paragraphs

Strongly condemns the manifestations and acts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance against migrants and the stereotypes often applied to them, and urges States to apply the existing laws when xenophobic or intolerant acts, manifestations or expressions against migrants occur, in order to eradicate impunity for those who commit xenophobic and racist acts, and calls upon States to implement fully the commitments and recommendations relating to the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrants contained in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action8 through, inter alia, the adoption of national plans of action, as recommended by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance;

Strongly condemns also all forms of racial discrimination and xenophobia related to access to employment, vocational training, housing, schooling, health services and social services, as well as services intended for use by the public;

Welcomes the active role played by governmental and non-governmental organizations in combating racism and xenophobia and in assisting victims of racist acts, including migrant victims;

Calls upon all States to consider reviewing and, where necessary, revising immigration policies with a view to eliminating all discriminatory practices against migrants and their families and adopting effective action to create conditions that foster greater harmony, tolerance and respect within societies, and to provide specialized training for government policymaking, law enforcement, migration and other concerned officials, including in cooperation with non-governmental organizations and civil society;

Requests States effectively to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their immigration status, especially those of women and children, in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights1 and the international instruments to which they are party, which may include the International Covenants on Human Rights,3 the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and other relevant human rights instruments;

Requests all States, international organizations and relevant stakeholders to take into account in their policies and initiatives on migration issues the global character of the migratory phenomenon and to give due consideration to international, regional and bilateral cooperation in this field, with a view to addressing, in a comprehensive manner, its causes and consequences and granting priority to the protection of the human rights of migrants;

Welcomes the increasing number of signatures and ratifications or accessions to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and calls upon States that have not done so to consider signing and ratifying or acceding to the Convention as a matter of priority;

Urges States parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and supplementing protocols thereto, namely, the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, to implement them fully, and calls upon States that have not done so to consider ratifying them as a matter of priority;

Reaffirms emphatically the duty of States parties to ensure full respect for and observance of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, in particular with regard to the right of all foreign nationals, regardless of their immigration status, to communicate with a consular official of the sending State in the case of arrest, imprisonment, custody or detention, and the obligation of the receiving State to inform without delay the foreign national of his or her rights under the Convention;

Expresses concern about the legislation and the measures adopted by some States that restrict the human rights and fundamental freedoms of migrants;

Welcomes immigration programmes, adopted by some countries, that allow migrants to integrate fully into the host countries, facilitate family reunification and promote a harmonious, tolerant and respectful environment, and encourages States to consider the possibility of adopting these types of programmes;

Calls upon States to facilitate family reunification in an expeditious and effective manner, with due regard to applicable laws, as such reunification has a positive effect on the integration of migrants;

Encourages all States to integrate a gender and age perspective in developing and implementing international migration policies and programmes in order to adopt the necessary measures to better protect women and children against possible dangers and abuse associated with migration and to foster opportunities for their contribution to their societies of origin and destination;

Calls upon States to promote and protect all human rights of migrant children, given their vulnerability, in particular unaccompanied migrant children, ensuring that the best interests of the children are a primary consideration, underlines the importance of reuniting them with their parents, when possible, and encourages the relevant United Nations bodies, within the framework of their respective mandates, to pay special attention to the conditions of migrant children in all States and, where necessary, to put forward recommendations for strengthening their protection, especially against sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, trafficking, the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, including coercion into begging and drug dealing, in particular by national or transnational organized crime groups;

Encourages States of origin to promote and protect the human rights of those families of migrant workers that remain in the countries of origin, paying particular attention to children and adolescents whose parents have emigrated, and encourages international organizations to consider supporting States in this regard;

Requests all States, in conformity with national legislation and applicable international legal instruments to which they are party, to enforce labour law effectively, including by addressing violations of such law, with regard to migrant workers’ labour relations and working conditions, inter alia, those related to their remuneration and conditions of health, safety at work and the right to freedom of association;

Encourages all States to remove obstacles that may prevent the safe, unrestricted and expeditious transfer of earnings, assets and pensions of migrants to their country of origin or to any other countries, in conformity with applicable legislation, and to consider, as appropriate, measures to solve other problems that may impede such transfers;

Calls upon States to observe national legislation and applicable international legal instruments to which they are party when enacting national security measures in order to respect the human rights of migrants;

Urges all States to adopt effective measures to put an end to the arbitrary arrest and detention of migrants and to take action to prevent and punish any form of illegal deprivation of liberty of migrants by individuals or groups;

Also urges all States to employ duly authorized and trained government officials to enforce their immigration laws and border controls and to take appropriate and effective measures to deter and prevent private persons or groups from violating criminal and immigration laws relating to border enforcement and from wrongfully undertaking actions reserved to government officials, including by prosecuting those violations of the law that may result from such actions;

Requests States to adopt concrete measures to prevent the violation of the human rights of migrants while in transit, including in ports and airports and at borders and migration checkpoints, to train public officials who work in those facilities and in border areas to treat migrants respectfully and in accordance with the law, and to prosecute, in conformity with applicable law, any act of violation of the human rights of migrants, inter alia, arbitrary detention, torture and violations of the right to life, including extrajudicial executions, during their transit from their country of origin to the country of destination and vice versa, including their transit through national borders;

Calls upon States that have not yet done so to enact domestic legislation and to take further effective measures to combat and prosecute international trafficking in and smuggling of migrants, recognizing that these crimes may endanger the lives of migrants or subject them to harm, servitude or exploitation, which may include debt bondage, slavery and sexual exploitation or forced labour, and urges States to strengthen international cooperation to combat such trafficking and smuggling and to protect the victims of trafficking;

Encourages States, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations, to undertake information campaigns aimed at clarifying opportunities, limitations and rights in the event of migration, so as to enable everyone, in particular women, to make informed decisions and to prevent them from becoming victims of trafficking and utilizing dangerous means of access to countries of transit and destination that put their lives and physical integrity at risk;

Also encourages States to consider participating in international and regional dialogues on migration that include countries of origin and destination, as well as countries of transit, and invites them to consider negotiating bilateral and regional agreements on migrant workers within the framework of applicable human rights law and designing and implementing programmes with States of other regions to protect the rights of migrants;

Requests Member States, the United Nations system, international organizations, civil society and all relevant stakeholders, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and her Office, as well as the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the human rights of migrants, to ensure that the perspective of the human rights of migrants is included among the priority issues in the ongoing discussions on migration and development within the United Nations system, including, in particular, at the high-level dialogue on international migration and development that will be held in 2006, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 58/208 of 23 December 2003;

Invites States, the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to observe, on 18 December of each year, International Migrants Day, proclaimed by the General Assembly, through, inter alia, the dissemination of information on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of migrants and on their economic, social and cultural contributions to their host and home countries, the sharing of experience and the adoption of measures to ensure their protection, and to promote greater harmony, tolerance and respect between migrants and the societies in which they live;

Welcomes the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the human rights of migrants for a period of three years and the appointment of the new Special Rapporteur, and takes note with interest of the interim report submitted by him to the General Assembly, including the proposed methods of work for the fulfilment of his mandate;

Requests all Governments to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur in the performance of the tasks and duties mandated, to furnish all information requested and to respond appropriately and expeditiously to his urgent appeals and to give serious consideration to his requests to visit their countries, and welcomes in this regard the standing invitations extended by some Member States to all special procedures, including the Special Rapporteur;

Requests all relevant mechanisms to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur;

Requests the Secretary-General to give the Special Rapporteur all the human and financial assistance necessary for the fulfilment of his mandate;

Takes note of the report of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families on its second session, and requests the Secretary-General to arrange, within existing resources, two sessions for the Committee in 2006, in spring and autumn, respectively, each of a duration of one week;

Takes note also of the report of the Secretary-General on the protection of migrants, and calls upon Member States and all relevant stakeholders to consider the implementation of the recommendations contained therein;

Decides to examine the question further at its sixty-first session under the item entitled “Human rights questions”.

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Protection of Migrants

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