International Legal Instruments on Migration

The United Nation’s (UN) concern for the migrant workers was first expressed through Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Resolution 1706 (LIII) of 28 July 1972. Later the UN prepared a draft particularly with the aim of ensuring legal protection to the migrant labour force. The draft was prepared on the basis of basic principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It also recognised the importance of all previous human rights instruments, including the two ILO conventions on the rights of migrant workers. This convention titled International Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 18 December 1990. This convention officially recognises the critical role of migrant labour force in the global economy.

The Global Commission on International Migration was launched by the United Nations Secretary-General and a number of governments on December 9, 2003 in Geneva. It is comprised of 18 Commissioners, is independent and will submit its Final Report to the Secretary-General by mid-Summer 2005. The Geneva-based Secretariat began its activities on 1 January 2004 and the Global Commission on International Migration met for the first time in Stockholm on February 26-27, 2004.

Wishing to provide the framework for the formulation of a coherent, comprehensive and global response to migration issues, and acting on the encouragement of the UN Secretary-General, Sweden and Switzerland, together with the governments of Brazil, Morocco and the Philippines, decided to establish a Global Commission on International Migration (GCIM). Several countries subsequently joined the effort and an open-ended Core Group of Governments, co-chaired by Sweden and Switzerland, established itself to support the establishment and follow the work of the Commission.
The mandate of the Commission is:

• Placing International Migration on the Global Agenda.

• Analysing Gaps in Current Policy Approaches to Migration and Examining Inter-linkages with Other Issue-Areas.

• Presenting Recommendations to the United Nations Secretary-General and other Stakeholders.
  For more details visit the GCIM website www.gcim.org 

The International Labour Migration Survey, 2003 Download (234 KB)
List of ratifications Download (225 KB)
Main results of the Survey Download (537 KB)