{"id":5179,"date":"2012-06-22T16:58:17","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T16:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mfasia.org\/beta\/statement-of-migrants-rights-international-in-response-to-the-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-human-rights-of-migrants\/"},"modified":"2012-06-22T16:58:17","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T16:58:17","slug":"statement-of-migrants-rights-international-in-response-to-the-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-human-rights-of-migrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/statement-of-migrants-rights-international-in-response-to-the-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-human-rights-of-migrants\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement of MRI in Response to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geneva, Switzerland — Migrants Rights International (MRI) delivered its statement (see below) in response to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on 22 June 2012 at the 11th Plenary Meeting – 20th Session of the Human Rights Council.\u00a0Watch the video from the United Nations Webcast\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n

Freedom is the Rule. Detention is the Exception!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Migrants Rights International welcomes the Special Rapporteur\u2019s first comprehensive report to the council,\u00a0and congratulates him on his appointment.<\/p>\n

Drawing the urgent attention of the Council to this crucial issue of migrants in detention is overdue, and\u00a0requires immediate action. The Special Rapporteur focuses on access to justice; calls for strong procedural\u00a0safeguards; attention to the special needs of vulnerable migrants; denunciation of detention as a punitive\u00a0measure; and the authoritative declaration that detention of migrants should be the last resort.<\/p>\n

Migrants Rights International remains concerned about the criminalization of migrant communities.\u00a0Detention heightens xenophobia and false assumptions associated with irregular status. The detention of\u00a0migrants is a crisis: even as we sit here deliberating, there are hundreds of thousands of migrants in a\u00a0growing number of detention centres across the world. A large number of these are women, children, and\u00a0vulnerable migrants. The expanding privatization of detention centres permits rights abuses to evade the\u00a0surveillance of states. Migrants Rights International recognizes that while the Special Rapporteur talks of\u00a0alternatives, these alternatives are also only ever a last resort.<\/p>\n

Following the Special Rapporteur\u2019s report, we strongly encourage all states in this Council to consider the\u00a0following policy responses:<\/p>\n

Prioritize regularization over detention.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

To prevent arbitrary detentions, and to open avenues for irregular migrants to live, work, and access\u00a0essential services, state policy should include mechanisms for the regularization of all irregular\u00a0migrants, prior to or following their detention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abolish administrative detention for undocumented migrants. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Irregular migration is not a criminal offense and should not be treated so. The prospect of detention\u00a0and deportation renders migrants vulnerable and exploitable and undermines the realization of their\u00a0human rights. States should abolish the practice of detaining undocumented migrants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Migrants Rights International is encouraged by the Special Rapporteur\u2019s recognition of the urgency of this\u00a0issue in his first report. As a global network, we will continue our efforts to document rights violations that\u00a0migrants suffer under existing detention regimes, and to encourage states to see freedom as the rule, and\u00a0detention as the exception for migrants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geneva, Switzerland — Migrants Rights International (MRI) delivered its statement (see below) in response to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on 22 June 2012 at the 11th Plenary Meeting – 20th Session of the Human Rights Council.\u00a0Watch the video from the United Nations Webcast\u00a0here Freedom is the Rule. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,43],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-5179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-archive","category-statements","tag-reports"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfasia.org\/migrantforumasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}