Joint Guidance Note on the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

on the Human Rights of Migrants

UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their
Families and UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants

26 May 2020

The UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) and the UN Special Rapporteur on the human
rights of migrants warn that the COVID-19 pandemic is having serious and disproportionate effects
on migrants and their families globally. Migrants who are in an irregular situation or undocumented
are in a situation of even greater vulnerability. Migrants in many cases already do not have
effective access to medical care, education and other social services, work in unstable jobs - usually
without benefits or the right to unemployment benefits - and in some cases have been left out of
the social assistance measures implemented by States, despite of their significant economic
contributions to society. In some countries they show the highest levels of contagions and deaths
from COVID-19 as a consequence of the abovementioned factors.

Amidst this global crisis, the Committee and the Special Rapporteur highlight the valuable
contributions of migrants on the front lines of the responses to COVID-19. A large percentage of
those migrants, regardless of their migration status, who can still work, do so in sectors considered
essential including: health; agriculture; food processing factories; supermarkets; restaurants;
delivery services; transport; cleaning; and care for children, persons with disabilities, or older
persons.

The Committee and the Special Rapporteur also recognize the measures adopted by States to
protect migrants and their families, in particular, their inclusion in assistance initiatives,
regularization programmes, visa extensions, suspension of sanctions for irregular stay, and
inclusion of migrant workers in sectors of containment of the pandemic such as the health sector,
among other measures.

However, recalling the joint declaration of the ten United Nations human rights treaty bodies, the
joint statement by Special Procedures mandate holders, and the Guidance on COVID-19 and the
human rights of migrants of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the
Committee and the Special Rapporteur call on States to protect the human rights of migrants and
their families, irrespective of their migration status, in particular:

1. Strictly limit State emergency responses, publicly declare them and notify the Committee. The
use of emergency powers is allowed by international law in response to significant health threats.
Nevertheless, any emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic must be carried out in strict
accordance with human rights standards, including the Convention on Migrant Workers ratified by
States parties. They must be publicly declared and notified to the Committee when fundamental
rights protected by the CMW Convention are being restricted. Such fundamental rights include,
but are not limited to, the right to freedom of movement, to speedy judicial proceedings, access

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to social services, medical care, and education, unity of the family, and unemployment benefits.
Therefore, it is of paramount importance that State emergency responses to the COVID-19
pandemic be necessary to achieve legitimate public health goals; proportionately apply the least
intrusive means; and be non-discriminatory so as not to be used to target particularly vulnerable
groups including minorities or individuals.

2. Integrate migrant workers into national COVID-19 prevention and response plans and policies.
which are gender, age and diversity responsive, and respect their right to health, including by
ensuring that the provision of tests, essential medicines, prevention measures and treatment are
provided in a non-discriminatory manner. States should follow the World Health Organization’s
(WHO) technical guidance when formulating and implementing policy actions to stem the
pandemic, and implement mechanisms to inform migrants on the measures that impact on their
human rights.

3. Guarantee access to social services for migrants and their families. Data generated in various
countries show that migrants and their families represent a high percentage of people who lost
their jobs, receive decreased income, or stopped receiving income at all, following the
implementation by States of measures to counter the spread of COVID-19, such as mandatory
lockdown, quarantine, physical distancing, restrictions on the right to freedom of movement and
border closures. Continued access to social services for migrants is thus crucial, in particular for
those who already lack access to social protection. Particular needs of migrant women, children
and others in vulnerable situations should also be attended to.

4. Guarantee the labour rights of migrant workers, especially of those working in essential
sectors, and take measures to protect their health, such as by providing personal protection
equipment.

5. Implement measures for the labour integration of migrant workers trained in health related
sectors to assist in the fight against COVID-19, including by facilitating the necessary procedures
for their professional activity and for the homologation and validation of professional degrees of
migrants.

6. Facilitate virtual channels to ensure access to education for children of migrants, irrespective
of their migration status or of their parents.

7. Include migrants and their families, regardless of their migration status, in economic recovery
policies, taking into account the need for the recovery of remittance flows. The impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the ability of migrants to work has already lead to a global drop in the
remittances sent to their families in their countries of origin, whose survival depends on them, as
well as to countries where remittances are one of the main sources of income for their economies.

8. Establish protocols and create adequate conditions in shelters and other structures designed
for the reception or stay of migrants, considering the health requirements for protection against
the spread of COVID-19 and particular vulnerabilities of people affected by humanitarian crises,
such as those displaced and/or living in camps, in readiness and response operations.

9. Guarantee the rights of persons in need of international protection. This includes guaranteeing
access to the territory of the country in which they are seeking international protection, seek and

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receive asylum, complementary or subsidiary protection, and the principle of non-refoulement,
including non-rejection at the border. In particular, States must ensure the continuity of asylum
and complementary protection procedures and other protection mechanisms for unaccompanied
or separated children, victims of human trafficking and other people in vulnerable situations at the
borders. Also, continue search and rescue operations for persons in distress at sea.

10. Avoid implementing migration-related control or repression actions and adopt measures to
ensure the protection of personal data and information. Migrants and their families often live in
densely concentrated residential areas that may be particularly prone to the spread of COVID-19.
In addition, these communities are often underserved by the healthcare system due, in part, for
fear of the consequences of seeking treatment when a migrant is in an irregular situation or
undocumented. States should establish “firewalls” between immigration enforcement and public
services so that all migrants, irrespective of their migration status, can access health care,
education, other social services and justice without fear of detection, detention and deportation.

11. Implement mechanisms to review the use of immigration detention with a view to reducing
their populations to the lowest possible level, and immediately release families with children
and unaccompanied or separated children from immigration detention facilities to non-custodial
and community based alternatives with full access to rights and services, including health care.
Migrants and their families often face confinement at administrative detention centers that are
cramped, overcrowded, and understaffed by healthcare professionals. Measures taken to help
address the risk to detainees and to staff in places of detention should reflect the principles of ‘do
no harm’ and ‘equivalence of care’.

12. Promote the regularization of migrants in an irregular situation or undocumented migrants.

This includes adopting other regular pathways for migrants in a vulnerable situation, measures to
allow extensions of work visas and other appropriate measures to reduce the challenges faced by
migrants and their families due to business closures to ensure the continued protection of their
human rights.

13. Guarantee the right of all migrants and their families to return to the country of which they
are nationals. Many of them are stranded all over the world as they try to reach their home
countries due to border closures or travel restrictions within countries. This obligation must be
harmonized with international health standards and guidelines issued by national health
authorities, and covers, according to the conditions of each State, measures of protection, access
to information and assistance.

14. Consider the temporary suspension of deportations or enforced returns during the pandemic.
A significant number of migrants have been deported or returned from different countries carrying
the COVID-19 disease. Deportations, without proper health and safety precautions, may expose
them to dangerous conditions, manifested both in transit and upon arrival in the migrants’ country
of origin, especially countries with a high rate of infections. Enforced returns can only be carried
out if they comply with the principle of non-refoulement and the prohibition of collective
expulsions, as well as procedural guarantees, including due process, access to lawyers and
translators, and the right to appeal a return decision. States must ensure that returns are carried
out on a voluntary basis, which implies that they meet the requirements of a fully informed
decision, without coercion and supported by the availability of sufficient valid alternatives. In all
cases, all stages of return procedures should be adjusted to ensure they are compatible with public

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health strategies. Also, migrants once returned to their countries of origin should be integrated in
national response to the pandemic and relevant recovery plans.

15. Pro-actively prevent discrimination and scapegoating of individuals or groups of migrants.

The Committee and the Special Rapporteur note with concern xenophobic speeches or expressions
associating the disease of COVID-19 with migrants or based on their ethnicity or if they are
identified as nationals of a particular country. Minority communities, in particular, have faced
attacks on individuals linked to fears about COVID-19.

16. Facilitate human rights monitoring and data collection on the human rights situation of
migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, by international organizations, national human rights
institutions, and civil society organizations on migration routes, in border areas, places of detention,
camps or other places where migrants live or work, within the capacities of the State and with
appropriate health measures.

17. Avail the Committee and the Special Rapporteur. The Committee and the Special Rapporteur
reiterate the severity of the current health crisis and urge international cooperation, shared
responsibility, multilateral engagement and solidarity in response. Also, they will coordinate with
the UN human rights treaty bodies, the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, the UN
Network on Migration, other UN agencies, and civil society organizations, to assist and support
States in their responses to COVID-19, in line with the International Convention on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the Global Compact for
Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. While all human rights treaty bodies have postponed their
meetings at the United Nations Office in Geneva until further notice, the Committee shall
nevertheless continue to keep under review the impact that the COVID-19 crisis and State
responses to the pandemic have on human rights. ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact:

UN Committee on Migrant Workers

Idrissa Kane, Secretary of the CMW Committee (+41 22 917 92 73 / [email protected])
and Nikolaus Schultz (+41 22 917 92 28 / [email protected])
Website: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CMW/Pages/CMWIndex.aspx
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @UN_CMW

UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants

Yiyao Zhang (+41 22 917 85 94 / [email protected])
and Renate Bucher (+41 22 917 94 70 / [email protected])
Website: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Migration/SRMigrants/Pages/SRMigrantsIndex.aspx
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @UNSR_Migration

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Jeremy Laurence (+
41 79 444 7578 / [email protected]) and John Newland ([email protected])

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter: @UN_SPExperts

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