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with members of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate.
During the NGO briefing in Atlanta, the Special Rapporteur heard from migrants
and migrants human rights advocates who had travelled from across the southern
United States.
15. In New York, the Special Rapporteur heard individuals testify about the
post-9/11 backlash, including the experiences of 11 September detainees. The visit
was concluded in Washington, D.C., with meetings with senior officials of the
Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.
16. Migrant rights issues raised at these various meetings included, but were not
limited to, the following: indefinite detention; mandatory detention; racial profiling;
family separation; aggressive raids; anti-immigrant legislation; linguistic, racial,
ethnic, gender and sexual-orientation discrimination; State violence; wage theft;
forced labour; limited access to health care and education; the growing antiimmigrant climate (including the post-9/11 backlash); and significant limitations on
due process and judicial oversight.
17. The Special Rapporteur is discussing with Member States the possibility of
undertaking further official missions in 2008. He has so far received positive
indications from the Governments of Guatemala, Mexico and South Africa. The
Special Rapporteur wishes to thank these Governments for their positive response.
IV. Other activities
A.
Human Rights Council
18. The Special Rapporteur attended the fourth session of the Human Rights
Council on 22 March, where he presented his second annual report. That report
focused on five main themes: border control and measures to reduce and address
irregular migration; expulsion; conditions for admission and stay; the rights of
migrants; and their protection. In his statement to the Council, the Special
Rapporteur highlighted the pressing need to address the complex patterns of human
rights abuse directed against migrants. He stressed that more than one third of
migrants remained undocumented, residing far from their homes and families; those
people, especially undocumented women and children, were one of the most
vulnerable groups and routinely face violence, hostility and various abuses. The
Special Rapporteur also noted that despite the fact that the International Convention
on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, adopted by
the General Assembly in 1990, was one of the seven basic instruments defining a
global human rights protection regime for migrant workers, Governments still
needed to be convinced that its ratification was necessary. In his concluding remarks
the Special Rapporteur reiterated the need for a comprehensive approach to
migrants’ human rights in order to ensure that migrants had a framework for
protection and enjoyed rights appropriate and adequate to their particularly
vulnerable situation.
19. During the interactive dialogue, the representative of Indonesia congratulated
the Special Rapporteur on his report and reiterated the commitment made by the
Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights to the effect that Indonesia would
ratify the International Convention for the Protection of the Human Rights of All
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