The
mass arrivals of undocumented migrants on Europe’s southern shores in 2006
has brought the migration debate to the top of the European agenda.
Migration itself is a human right as protected under Article 2 paragraph
2 of Protocol 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights, “Everyone shall
be free to leave any country, including his own”. Although of course every
state has the right to regulate the entry of foreign nationals onto its
own territory and to return irregular migrants to their country of origin
while respecting international human rights law.
But what of the undocumented migrants who find their way into Europe?
What are their rights?
The Commissioner for Human Rights has chosen migrants’ rights as one
of his priority themes for 2007 because migrants, both legal and undocumented,
are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and social exclusion. The
Commissioner works with governments to underline the point that all migrants
have human rights, even when they are not citizens of the country in which
they live. He is of the firm opinion that human rights must be guaranteed
without discrimination to citizens and aliens alike.
Undocumented migrants are often pushed
into the black labour market and thus deprived of social rights connected
to employment. Their access to minimum rights is further limited by fear
of denouncement. The Commissioner thus works to ensure that undocumented
migrants have the right to basic health care and education, and the right
to apply for a permit to stay. He promotes their right to protection against
arbitrary detention, as well as their right not to be sent to countries
where they risk ill-treatment and torture; and expelled without having a
legal opportunity to challenge such a decision.
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