GENEVA (29 August 2013) – Efforts to promote the human rights of the growing number of migrants around the world are set to be the focus of a key meeting in Geneva on Wednesday 4 September, to be opened by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
The discussions will feed into the second UN High-Level Dialogue on international migration and development in New York on 3-4 October.
There are currently more than 215 million international migrants in the world. Put together they would form the fifth biggest nation in terms of population. More people are on the move than ever before; they move more often and over greater distances, and in more precarious conditions.
Yet, in global discussions migration is rarely addressed as a fundamentally human process, and migrants are rarely seen as human beings with human rights. Migration is mainly viewed as an economic and social “mega-trend”, with migrants seen either as the providers of remittances or as security threats.
Panel discussions will begin at 10am on 4 September and take place in Room IX in the Palais des Nations. Panellists will include representatives of Switzerland, Bangladesh and Mexico, the Secretariat for the Swedish Chairmanship of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Labour Organization, the International Organization for Migration, Amnesty International and the International Detention Coalition.
At 2pm on 4 September, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will hold a joint press conference in Press Room 1, at Palais des Nations to launch two new UN publications on migration.
The OHCHR report explores the challenge of international cooperation in protecting the human rights of all migrants. The Global Migration Group report, which was led by the UNODC, looks at the risks faced by migrants, particularly those in an irregular situation.
The discussions will be broadcast live (https://new.livestream.com/Geneva-live/OHCHR), live-tweeted (#Rights4Migrants), and on Facebook
(https://www.facebook.com/events/311887378958066/) and Google + (https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/110621601354060013807/events/c3hs0mp0heu7h4388dcrav3dgf0)
Event details and agenda are available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Migration/Pages/HLD2013.aspx
