E/CN.4/2002/94 page 5 Introduction 1. This report is submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2001/52 of 24 April 2001. It is the third annual report that the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Gabriela Rodríguez Pizarro, has submitted to the Commission, and also the third such report to the Commission since the Economic and Social Council established the mandate on the human rights of migrants by decision 1999/239, in which it took note of Commission resolution 1999/44. 2. Chapter I is a general description of the new elements in the resolution on which the Special Rapporteur’s mandate is based. Chapter II discusses the changes that have occurred in 2001 in the legal framework for that mandate. Chapter III offers a general survey of the migration situation as observed by the Special Rapporteur in 2001, and the situations which required her closer attention. Chapter IV provides detailed information on the main activities carried out by the Special Rapporteur pursuant to her mandate during the period under consideration, including emergencies in which she was required to take action. Chapter V summarizes her concluding observations and recommendations to Governments, civil society and migrants themselves. The report continues the discussion of topics taken up in the Special Rapporteur’s previous report to the Commission, emphasizing the serious problem of smuggling of migrants and the attendant human rights violations, the situations faced by migrant women, and what the Special Rapporteur has learned about the conditions facing unaccompanied children. The Special Rapporteur is grateful for the comments and information she received in response to her second report to the Commission, and has sought to incorporate them or pass them on in this report. 3. Annexed to this report is an account of the Special Rapporteur’s visit to Ecuador from 5 to 16 November 2001. I. MANDATE 4. In its resolution 2001/52, the Commission on Human Rights encouraged the Special Rapporteur to continue to examine ways and means of overcoming existing obstacles to the full and effective protection of the human rights of persons belonging to this large vulnerable group, including obstacles and difficulties for the return of migrants who are undocumented or in an irregular situation, in conformity with her mandate as contained in Commission resolution 1999/44. 5. During the period covered by this report, the Special Rapporteur has continued to develop her contacts with a variety of sources, including Governments, organizations and migrants, paying special attention to the gender perspective when seeking and analysing information as recommended by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolutions concerning the mandate. In fulfilment of her mandate, she has monitored national and regional negotiations concerned, in particular, with the return and reabsorption of migrants who are undocumented or in an irregular situation, as the Commission requested when her mandate was established.