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Quick Link to this page: www.unesco.org/shs/ijms/vol11/issue1/intro
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| The Human Rights of Migrants – Editorial Introduction |
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| Kristina Touzenis and Ryszard Cholewinski |
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Read this introduction
Migration and human rights intersect at a number of points, starting when the migrant crosses a frontier, the act that defines international migration. While international human rights law recognizes the right to leave one’s own country, there is no corresponding right to enter another country, even for a refugee, without that state’s permission. This means that where a state decides that a migrant entered the country without authorisation, this decision does not of itself, and if properly taken, conflict with human rights principles. But, more importantly, the fact that a migrant entered or remained without authorisation does not nullify the state’s duty under international law to protect his or her basic rights without discrimination, for example against torture, degrading treatment, or forced labour. This complex interrelationship between migration and human rights is multifaceted, and found at all stages in the migratory cycle: in the country of origin, during transit, and in the country of destination. However, some migrants, usually skilled workers who move to take up professional jobs in the formal sector, may have relatively few human rights problems (Grant 2005a).
Suggested bibliographic reference for this article:
Touzenis, Kristina; Cholewinski, Ryszard. The Human Rights of Migrants - Editorial Introduction. IJMS: International Journal on Multicultural Societies. 2009, vol.11, no.1, pp. 1-18, UNESCO. ISSN 1817-4574.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001838/183859m.pdf
About the Guest Editors:
Kristina Touzenis holds an LL.B. and LL.M. from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). She has worked in Italy for the past six years, three of which for the IOM, and has taught both post- and undergraduates at the universities of Trieste and Pisa. Her research focuses on the human rights of women and children and she has published several articles and a monography on international human rights and international humanitarian law issues. Currently researching issues relating to transnational organised crime and human rights, she has managed programmes on irregular migration in West Africa and the Maghreb and is involved in various legal research projects on migration laws in these regions. E-mail: kritouze@hotmail.com
Ryszard Cholewinski works in the IOM Migration Policy and Research Department in Geneva (Switzerland). Prior to joining the IOM in September 2005, he was Reader in Law at the University of Leicester (United Kingdom) (1992–2005) and also served as consultant to a number of other international organisations, such as the Council of Europe, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO, as well as a number of NGOs. He has published widely on international and European migration law and policy, including Migrant Workers in International Human Rights Law: Their Protection in Countries of Employment (1997); Borders and Discrimination in the European Union (2002); Study on Obstacles to Effective Access of Irregular Migrants to Minimum Social Rights (2005); and more recently co-edited International Migration Law: Developing Paradigms and Key Challenges (Asser Press, 2007). He holds a doctoral degree (LL.D) from the University of Ottawa, a LL.M. from the University of Saskatchewan and a LL.B from the University of Leicester. E-mail: rcholewinski@hotmail.com
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Quick Link to this page: www.unesco.org/shs/ijms/vol11/issue1/intro
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