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Millions of people who are earning their livings – or are looking for paid employment – come as strangers to the State where they reside. Migrant workers are aliens who they suffer from discrimination, poverty, and social and cultural handicaps. And disabled migrant workers are doubly disadvantaged. In order to protect migrant workers, special attention has been focused on them within the UN, ILO and at the regional level:
The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families is based on a General Assembly Resolution and is not yet in force. It contains a comprehensive set of rules with regard to the particular situation of migrant workers. The main thrust of this Convention is that persons who qualify as migrant workers under its provisions are entitled to enjoy their human rights regardless of their legal status. The Convention does not directly refer to the disabled people, but some articles are worth mentioning.
Article 1 (1) states that "…the present Convention is applicable, except as otherwise provided hereafter, to all migrant workers and members of their families without distinction of any kind such as sex, race, colour, language, religion or conviction, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, nationality, age, economic position, property, marital status, birth or other status…" (emphasis added).
Article 7 provides: "States Parties undertake, in accordance with the international instruments concerning human rights, to respect and to ensure to all migrant workers and members of their families within their territory or subject to their jurisdiction the rights provided for in the present Convention without distinction of any kind such as to sex, race, colour, language, religion or conviction, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, nationality, age, economic position, property, marital status, birth or other status." (emphasis added).
Article 28 provides that "…migrant workers and members of their families shall have the right to receive any medical care that is urgently required for the preservation of their life or the avoidance of irreparable harm to their health on the basis of equality of treatment with nationals of the state concerned. Such emergency medical care shall not be refused them by reason of any irregularity with regard to stay or employment."
Some recent UN World Conferences have dealt with the rights of migrant workers:
The World Conference on Human Rights invited States to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families as soon as possible.
In the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action which it adopted (part II, paragraphs 33-35), the Conference urged all States to guarantee the protection of the human rights of all migrant workers and their families.
In chapter X of the Programme of Action, which was adopted on the International Conference on Population and Development, the Conference called for a comprehensive international approach to dealing with international migration.
At the World Summit for Social Development States committed themselves, at the international level, to ensure that migrant workers benefit from the protection provided by relevant national and international instruments, to take concrete and effective measures against the exploitation of migrant workers and to encourage all States to consider ratifying and fully implementing international instruments relating to migrant workers.
In the Beijing Platform for Action which was adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women (Chapter IV. D), the Conference called on States to recognise the vulnerability to violence and other forms of abuse of women migrants, including women migrant workers, whose legal status in the host State depends on employers who may exploit their situation.
The two main ILO Conventions designed to protect migrant workers are the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised)52 and the Migrant Workers Convention (Supplementary Provisions)53.
But other Conventions and Recommendations have some provisions regarding the protection of disabled people:
Article 6 of the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised) states:
"Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes to apply, without
discrimination in respect of nationality, race, religion or sex, to immigrants lawfully
within its territory, treatment no less favourable than that which it applies to its own
nationals in respect of the following matters:
(...)
(b) social security (that is to say, legal provision in respect of employment injury,
maternity, sickness, invalidity, old age, death, unemployment and family responsibilities,
and any other contingency which, according to national law regulations, is covered by a
social security scheme)…"
Article 5 of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention54 provides: "...Any Member may, after consultation with representative employers’ and workers’ organisations, where such exist, determine that other special measures designed to meet the particular requirements of persons who, for reasons such as sex, age, disablement, family responsibilities or social or cultural status, are generally recognised to require special protection or assistance, shall not be deemed to be discrimination."
The provisions of the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 198355, Vocational Rehabilitation (Disabled) Recommendation, 195556 and the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Recommendation, 198357 apply to migrant workers, as they apply to all disabled workers. This Convention (and Recommendations) aim to protect disabled workers in order to help them to participate in national policies on vocational rehabilitation and employment.
The Migrant workers Recommendation, 197558 states in Part B, article 20 that "…all appropriate measures should be taken to prevent any special health risks to which migrant workers may be exposed."
At the European level, the European Social Charter protects disabled migrant workers. Article 19 establishes the right of migrant workers and their families and of self-employed migrants to protection and assistance. In order to implement these guarantees, States Parties undertake to provide a number of services:
(1) States undertake to assist migrant workers against misleading propaganda relating to immigration and emigration (2) States undertake to adopt appropriate measures to facilitate the departure, journey and reception of such workers and their families and to provide appropriate services for health, medical attention and good hygienic conditions during the journey (3) States undertake to secure for migrant workers lawfully within their territories, insofar as such matters are regulated by law or regulations or are subject to the control of administrative authorities, treatment not less favourable than that of their own nationals in respect of the following matters: remuneration, working conditions, membership of trade unions, enjoyment of the benefits of collective bargaining and accommodation (4) States undertake to secure for such workers lawfully within their territory treatment not less favourable than that of their own nationals with regard to employment taxes, dues or contributions payable of employed’ persons (5) States undertake to facilitate the reunion of a family of a foreign worker lawfully within their territory (6) States undertake to secure that workers lawfully residing within their territories receive treatment not less favourable than that of their own nationals in respect of legal proceedings (7) States undertake to secure that the workers lawfully residing within their territories are not expelled unless they endanger national security or offend the public interest or morality (8) States undertake to permit the transfer of the earnings and savings of the migrant workers into other countries.
52 ILO Convention No. 97
53 ILO Convention No. 143
54 ILO Convention No. 111
55 ILO Convention No. 159
56 ILO Recommendation No. 99
57 ILO Recommendation No. 168
58 ILO Recommendation No. 151
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