A/69/302
19. The economic and financial crisis has also increased migration from the most
affected countries. From 2007 to 2011, the migration of citizens from Greece and
Spain to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development destination
countries more than doubled, while the number of citizens leaving Ireland increased
by 80 per cent. 7
20. Increased migration has led to a rise in anti-migration sentiment, which has
resulted in greater discrimination and violence against migrants, given that they are
portrayed as taking away jobs and draining social services in the host country.
Immigration has, however, been found to have a minimal impact on unemployment
of residents and a positive overall impact on employment generation and
investment. 7 Currently, 74 per cent of migrants are of working age and the numbers
are almost evenly spread out between genders. 5 Policies that favour diversity and
the inclusion of migrants are key to facilitating their contribution to development
and reducing populist negative representations of migrants.
C.
Why the human rights of migrants should be included in the
post-2015 sustainable development agenda
21. Human rights are not reserved for citizens. They benefit everyone within a
State’s territory or jurisdiction, without discrimination, irrespective of
administrative status and circumstances.
22. Governments have already committed themselves to upholding human rights
in numerous international treaties: they must implement such commitments in the
setting of development priorities. How migration is governed — whether rights to
move, live, work and seek redress are promoted, respected and protected — will
contribute to determining the kind of development outcomes that can be achieved.
23. Human rights standards and principles provide specific guidance as to how
goals, targets and indicators should be framed in the post-2015 United Nations
development agenda. Since the participants in the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development proposed the inclusion of human rights in the sustainable
development goals, support for the inclusion of human rights has al so been
reiterated by the United Nations system task team on the post -2015 agenda, the
Secretary-General (see A/68/292), stakeholders around the world in global thematic
consultations sponsored by the United Nations, the High-level Panel of Eminent
Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Open Working Group of the
General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals. The content of the present
report — in particular the goals, targets and indicators — is drawn from those
sources and from OHCHR and the Global Migration Group.
24. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for the
inclusion of marginalized groups, including migrants, in the post -2015 agenda,
saying that such inclusion is: “a normative obligation rooted in the prohibition of
discrimination, but also a practical imperative for effective development strategies.
It should by now be seen as axiomatic that no society can develop to its true
potential when entire sectors of that society are blocked from contributing by legal,
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7
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Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Migration Outlook
2013 (Paris, OECD Publishing, 2013).
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