Regional Perspectives on the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers

With the ratification by El Salvador and Guatemala on 14 March and Mali on 5 June 2003, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (hereafter ICRM), adopted by General Assembly resolution 45/158 of 18 December 1990, has finally entered into force on 1 July 2003. To date, from among the 34 countries that have ratified, or acceded to, the ICRM, there are only three situated in the Asian region: the Philippines, Sri Lanka and East Timot (with Bangladesh and Indonesia having signed only). The Asian region, however, has emerged as a particularly important source for the export and import of labour, and there is substantial evidence of the violation of the human rights of migrant workers as stipulated by international standards (Piper and Iredale 2003; Piper 2004). These violations are not necessarily specific to the Asian region. In the light of migrants constituting a highly vulnerable group of people, the ICRM — being a migrant worker specific human rights document — could offer an important source for protection if widely ratified and implemented. Furthermore, the potential and real relevance of the ICRM is reflected in the vigorous NGO activism that has been taken place, particularly in the Philippines and by Filipinos abroad who have been at the forefront of migrant rights’ activism, campaigning among other issues also for the ratification and implementation of this Convention.