Why the UK should sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers

By Laura Mucha, Research Associate, UNA-UK Human Rights Programme

According to the 2004 Foreign Office annual report on human rights, the UK has ratified every major international human rights treaty. However, this claim is undermined by the fact that the UK has not signed the UN’s International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (MWC), which entered into force in July 2003. What is more, the government shows no intention of changing its position, having stated that national policies already strike the “right balance between the need for immigration control and the protection of the interests and rights of migrant workers and their families”.

There is compelling evidence that this confidence is not justified: not only is existing UK legislation inadequate to protect migrant workers but the situation stands to get worse under the government’s recently proposed five-year plan for asylum and immigration. Against this backdrop, the need to sign the MWC is becoming increasingly urgent.

Signing and ratifying the MWC would do much to improve the situation in the UK . The Convention extends basic human rights to all migrant workers and their families throughout the entire migration process, and it also proposes policies to promote equitable and lawful international migration. While documented migrant workers are accorded additional rights under the MWC, its provisions protect a core of human rights for all migrants, regardless of their legal status in the host country. The Convention includes measures to eliminate clandestine movements and trafficking and to prevent employment in irregular situations.

Notably, article 21 prohibits the confiscation of migrant workers’ identity documents: not only is there no such UK legislation but there is clear evidence that this practice is used in the UK to pressure workers into accepting sub-standard wages and poor working conditions. For example, 49% of domestic workers who registered between 2001 and 2003 with Kalayaan, an NGO that supports migrant domestic workers in the UK , reported having had their passports taken by employers.

Under the government’s new five-year plan for asylum and immigration, announced in February 2005, the situation for migrant workers and their families in the UK stands to get worse. The net effect of the proposals is to curtail legitimate labour migration routes: as the chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service has argued, this will increase the likelihood that “more workers will be sucked into the economy via smugglers and traffickers, with appalling consequences of exploitation”.

The implications of the government’s current position on the MWC and migration also extend beyond the UK , most notably affecting the UK ’s capacity for international standard-setting in an area that is contingent upon the independent compliance of national governments. It is especially regrettable that the UK will lose the opportunity to take a positive lead on migration during 2005, when its presidencies of the G8 and the EU provide it with such a useful platform from which to effect real change in global human rights.

UNA-UK is a Company limited by Guarantee. Registered in England no. 2885557. Registered office 3 Whitehall Court SW1A 2EL