UN Committee On Migrant Workers Publishes Findings On Benin, Egypt, Peru And Seychelles

GENEVA (18 December 2024) - The UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) today issued its findings on Benin, Egypt, Peru and Seychelles.

The findings contain the Committee’s main concerns and recommendations on the implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, as well as positive aspects. Key highlights include:

Benin
The Committee welcomed Benin’s respective legislation which recognises Beninese nationality for people of African descent and allows foreign workers who have lived in the country for at least five years to obtain Beninese nationality through naturalization. It was, however, concerned about the lack of detailed information on migrants, including the number and conditions of foreign migrant workers, as well as Beninese migrant workers abroad. It called for establishing a system to collect data about migrant workers and members of their families, particularly those in an irregular situation, covering all aspects of the Convention and made available to the public.

The Committee raised concern over the lack of information on labour exploitation, notably about reports that women and children are employed as domestic workers and may be subjected to extremely poor or exploitative working conditions, as well as the incidence of forced marriage. It urged Benin to collect information on the extent of forced labour in order to establish policies and enforcement mechanisms. It also asked the State party to systematize labour inspection visits, increasing the number of spontaneous and unannounced labour inspections, particularly in the informal sector. The Committee further called for immediate action and effective measures to eliminate and effectively combat child marriage.

Egypt
The Committee recognized Egypt’s efforts to combat trafficking in persons and to strengthen accountability in response to acts of violence that have been perpetrated against migrants. It, however, noted its concern with the delay in adopting relevant labour laws and the lack of safeguards built into the legal framework governing entry, residence, work authorization and regularization. It called on the State party to strengthen its efforts to ensure that its legislation fully complies with the Convention, and to ensure clarity in the legal and regulatory framework applicable to migrant workers and their families.

The Committee also expressed concern over the reports of increased raids of communities with a high concentration of migrants, a surge in arbitrary arrests and detention, and continued collective expulsions of migrant workers and their families, especially after the new residency regulations for foreigners were issued in 2023. It urged the State party to prevent arbitrary arrests, uphold due process obligations and prohibit and investigate all allegations of collective expulsions.

Peru
The Committee acknowledged Peru’s efforts, such as granting humanitarian visas, in responding to the large number of people, mostly Venezuelan nationals, in need of international protection arriving on its territory. The Committee, however, pointed out that several new legislative initiatives in Peru, and various reforms to the 2017 Migration Law, are a step backwards for migrant workers protection, reflecting the country’s migration policy’s shift from a comprehensive human rights-based approach to a narrow one based on public order and national security. It recommended that Peru conduct a comprehensive review of the migration related legislative initiatives and legal reforms in recent years, to identify and repeal or amend those contrary to the Convention.

The Committee also stated concerns about the legal reforms that create the special and exceptional administrative sanctioning procedure (PASEE) and the criminalisation of irregular entry or re-entry under the criminal offences of illicit trafficking and clandestine or illegal re-entry, punishable by deprivation of liberty. It asked Peru to bring all national legislation on the deprivation of liberty of migrant workers and their families – including the PASEE – into line with the Convention, as well as ensure that irregular entry of migrant workers is not criminalised.

Seychelles
The Committee commended Seychelles’ numerous planned legislative reviews, especially the amendments to the current Employment Act of 2018 and the Immigration Decree of 1981, to create a more robust Immigration Act. The Committee, however, was concerned about migrant workers employed in the private sector and their family members regarding the right to health, as they must pay for medical services and health care, while Seychellois nationals receive them free of charge. It asked Seychelles to consider extending the same healthcare benefits to all migrant workers and their families in equal standing to that of nationals and migrants employed by the State.

On migrant children, the Committee expressed concerns at their exclusion in law from free public education. In addition, it underscored its concerns about the statelessness determination procedures that are inadequate for the protection of the children of migrant workers born in Seychelles. It reiterated its previous recommendations that Seychelles should recognize the right to education of all migrant workers and their families in equal standing to that of nationals, both in law and in practice, and also to strengthen its statelessness determination procedure to ensure the protection of the children of migrant workers from statelessness.

The above findings, officially known as Concluding Observations, are now available on the session page.

© Scoop Media