International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

Map of the ratifying states (green) and signatory states (yellow)

International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
Short title:	UN Migrant Workers Convention
Title (engl.):	International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
Abbreviation:	ICRMW
Date:	18th December 1990
Come into effect:	July 1, 2003
Reference:	United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2220, p. 3; Doc. A / RES / 45/158.
Contract type:	open, multilateral
Legal matter:	Human rights
Signing:	39 states
Ratification :	55 (as of January 4, 2020)
Germany:	not joined
Austria:	not joined.
Switzerland:	not joined
Please note the note on the applicable contract version .

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families ( english International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families , ICRMW), shortly UN Migrant Workers Convention , is one of the United Nations -supported convention that serves to improve the legal status of migrants with employee status , seasonal and casual workers and their family members. The convention defines how general human rights are to be applied in particular to migrant workers . With it a binding legal basis for the treatment of this special group of people was created for the first time.

Following the resolution of the UN General Assembly on December 18, 1990 and ratification by twenty states, the convention entered into force on July 1, 2003. To monitor its implementation of the UN was the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families ( Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families set up). The treaty body began its work in 2004.

The protection of the UN Migrant Workers Convention also extends to people who are illegally residing in the country or who are illegally employed . Certain people are exempt from the UN Migrant Workers Convention, such as employees of international organizations, diplomats, development workers in government aid programs, refugees, stateless persons, students and interns, and (in general) seafarers and offshore workers.

Ratification status

The convention has so far been ratified by the following 55 states (as of January 4, 2020):

Egypt  Albania  Algeria  Argentina  Azerbaijan  Bangladesh  Benin  Belize  Bolivia  Bosnia and Herzegovina

Burkina Faso  Chile  Ecuador  El Salvador  Fiji  Gambia  Ghana  Guatemala  Guinea

Guinea-Bissau  Guyana  Honduras  Indonesia  Jamaica  Cape Verde  Kyrgyzstan  Colombia  Republic of the Congo

Lesotho  Libya  Madagascar  Mali  Morocco  Mauritania  Mexico  Mozambique  Niger

Nigeria  Nicaragua  East Timor  Paraguay  Peru  Philippines  Rwanda  Sao Tome and Principe  Senegal

Seychelles  Sri Lanka  St. Vincent and the Grenadines  Syria  Tajikistan  Turkey  Uganda  Uruguay  Venezuela

Another 12 states have signed the convention:

Armenia  Gabon  Haiti

Cambodia  Cameroon  Comoros

Liberia  Montenegro  Palau

Serbia  Sierra Leone  Togo

So far, almost no industrialized and immigration countries have signed or ratified the convention.

Web links

• Text of the Convention (English)
• Committee on Migrant Workers (Engl.)
• Humanrights.ch: Text of the Convention (German) and further information
• Migrants Rights International
• December 18 - Portal for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrants (English, French, ...)
• Status of ratification (Engl.)
• institut-fuer-menschenrechte.de: Information on the Migrant Workers Convention (April 9, 2010)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Katharina Spieß: The United Nations Migrant Workers Convention, An Instrument to Strengthen the Rights of Migrants in Germany. German Institute for Human Rights , January 2007, accessed on January 18, 2018 . ISBN 978-3-937714-32-5 . P. 11. 
2. ↑ Article 3 of the UN Migrant Workers Convention.