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100. The international human rights and labour law regimes protect everyone,
including refugees. In some cases, refugees are better protected under the human
rights regime than under the refugee regime. The right to education enshrined in the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the absolute prohibition of a return to
torture enshrined in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which also contains the principle of
non-refoulement, are cases in point. The tools needed to p rotect all such rights are
often similar, whether the foreigner in question is a refugee or another kind of
migrant, and consist of access to justice; adequate national human rights institutions
and ombudspersons; access to lawyers and legal aid mechanisms; detentionmonitoring mechanisms; and oversight mechanisms for cases of repressive
administrative action, for example in airports, ports, detention centres or police
custody.
101. Upon arriving undocumented in countries of transit or destination, all migrants
and refugees fall within the category of irregular migrants and are often treated as
such. Proper individual assessments for all are required in order to effectively
identify their vulnerabilities and the legal framework under which their need for
protection will fall.
102. Readmission agreements are an area of particular concern. Despite protections
against such practices in legislation, push-backs and refoulement to countries of
origin and third countries with a weak rule of law and poor asylum s ystems have
been improperly conducted under the broad auspices of bilateral agreements.
103. The Special Rapporteur stresses that no one should be returned under a
readmission agreement without effective oversight by a post -return human rights
monitoring mechanism that ensures that the human rights of returnees are actually
respected.
104. Special procedures and safeguards must be established for the return of
unaccompanied or separated children. States should only return or repatriate
unaccompanied children as a measure of protection — for instance, to ensure family
reunification in cases in which it is in the child’s best interest and after due process
of law. Decisions on the return of unaccompanied children should be taken by child
protection officers or — only in cases in which that is not possible — well-trained
migration officials who understand children’s rights and needs.
8.
To initiate a State-led, consultative process to improve protection and assistance
for migrants in vulnerable situations, with the participation of experts and civil
society, building on the principles and practical guidance on the protection of
migrants in large movements currently being developed by the Global
Migration Group
105. As demonstrated throughout the tenure of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur
believes in the importance of a State-led, consultative process and proposes,
including relevant United Nations agencies, United Nations and regional human
rights mechanisms, civil society organizations and migrant communi ties in that
process.
106. The Special Rapporteur also takes note of the principles and practical guidance
on the human rights protection of migrants in precarious situations within large
and/or mixed movements established by the Global Migration Group’s working
group on human rights and gender equality, in partnership with agencies of the
United Nations system, civil society, academia and States, which are intended to
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