UN launches study to assess migrants’ rights
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, will undertake a one-year comprehensive study to examine the rights of migrants in the Euro-Mediterranean region, focusing in particular on the management of the external borders of the European Union.
The study will include an examination of the EU directives and national policies in place with respect to visa regimes and border control. It will also assess management policies and practices, interception practices including on land and at sea, detention regimes and conditions, returns and readmission.
“Although migration to and from the European region is not a new phenomenon, since the 1990s the region has witnessed a sharp increase in migration movements,” noted the independent expert, reiterating his call to the international community “to embrace a new, balanced discourse on migration based on equal rights, non-discrimination and dignity, as well as on reality.”
The project will culminate in a thematic report which will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2013.