E/CN.4/2000/82 page 6 same migrant issues. A similar interest has been shown by sectors of civil society and has been brought to the attention of the general public all round the world by the news media. The news services tend to highlight the problems of trafficking in persons, particularly women and children, and the widespread abuse of undocumented workers in the informal economy. 14. The Special Rapporteur notes that migration occurs for a variety of reasons: people are unable to remain in their own countries mainly because of poverty and because they cannot earn a living for themselves or their family, and because of civil conflicts and insecurity or persecution for reasons of race, ethnic origin, religion, language or political views. The States whose citizens migrate for these reasons share these problems with the States which receive large numbers of migrants. Human rights violations hypothetically arise for the receiving or “desired” State that rejects inflows of migrants. Such violations occur insofar as the national populations cannot be contained within their home countries. A common outcome of this phenomenon is that people become undocumented cross-border migrants. 15. Estimates of the different categories of migrant suggest that a total of between 120 and 130 million people are outside their countries of origin. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that between 70 and 80 million of these are so-called “migrant workers”, while the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that there are 21.5 million refugees and reckons that there are 30 million displaced persons. In 1997, ILO estimated that the number of migrant workers was as follows: Africa, 20 million; North America, 17 million; Central and South America, 12 million; Asia, 7 million; the Middle East (Arab countries), 9 million; and Europe, 30 million. There are massive movements of migrants towards the North, but there is more and more movement between the countries of the South. Women and children account for more than half of the refugees and internally displaced persons, and their proportion is increasing in the case of the other categories of migrants, including migrant workers. IV. PLAN OF ACTION 16. The Special Rapporteur outlined a plan of action for the three-year period of her mandate. In this context, the Special Rapporteur considered that, in addition to the definition of the legal framework, which can be found in paragraph 25 and the following paragraphs and which should be broadened in the way described in that section, a survey of regional initiatives needs to be carried out so that the Governments of home countries and/or transit countries can enter into dialogue with those of countries that are traditionally seen as migrant destinations. Some of these initiatives, which are at varying stages of development, bear the name of the cities or regions where they were launched: the Puebla process,2 the Manila process, the Bangkok initiative (the Bangkok Declaration) and the Dakar, Mediterranean, Cairo, Lima and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) initiatives. 17. As her contribution to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, due to be held in 2001, the Special Rapporteur intends to submit a paper to the Preparatory Committee at its first session in May 2000. That paper will deal with the substance of the Programme of Action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, with particular reference to the forms of intolerance present in migrants’ home countries, as well as in transit countries and countries of destination.