migrant workers
Migrant workers are "foreigners" who have been allowed to enter the territory - typically because they are thought to perform an economically valuable role in the receiving countries. They may have skills that are in short supply in the receiving country, or be prepared to do work that others will not do. Despite their contribution migrant workers face profound discrimination. Most countries that are net migrant receiving countries have refused to ratify the treaty that protects the human rights of migrant workers: the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
-
The Crisis of Human Rights: Discrimination Against Non-Citizens
The basic idea at the heart of human rights is that all human beings are equal: equal in rights – equal in human dignity. This idea is universally accepted and believed. At the same time another idea – the idea that we are separately citizens of different countries is also a feature of the modern world – and the way it is practised has led to enormous discrimination and violation of human rights. In reality people, as a matter of law, have different fundamental rights even though we believe that all human beings are equal. In a recent paper titled “Human Rights in the Age of Migration: An Empirical Analysis of Human…
