A/HRC/53/26 protection; and spoke at the annual congress of the Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsmen on access to justice for migrants. 8. On 24 January 2023, the Special Rapporteur spoke at a United Nations University round-table discussion on decent work for migrants in the global South. 9. On 1 March, the Special Rapporteur gave a lecture at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law on the main challenges for the protection of the human rights of migrants. On 7 March, he was a speaker at the launch of the Migrant Rights database, organized by the Global Migration Centre of the Geneva Graduate Institute and the Migrant Rights Initiative of Cornell University. On 30 March, he participated in a panel on decolonizing human rights practice to promote racial justice at the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law. 10. Also in March, the Special Rapporteur participated in a panel on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, borders and migratory regularization at the World Forum on Human Rights, held in Buenos Aires; a panel at the Forum on Migration Trends, convened by the Conference of Bishops of Guatemala and other organizations, where he was the keynote speaker, addressing the situation of shelters for migrants in Guatemala and Mexico; and a side event to the fifty-second session of the Human Rights Council on disappearances of migrants, which he co-organized together with the Permanent Mission of Mexico, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other institutions. III. Study on how to expand and diversify regularization mechanisms and programmes to enhance the protection of the human rights of migrants A. Introduction 11. Migration can bring positive and empowering experiences to migrants, their families and their communities in their countries of origin and destination. Yet many undocumented migrants continue to struggle due to the lack of regular migration status. Migrants in irregular situations live and work in critical circumstances and may be disproportionately subjected to discrimination, abuse, exploitation and marginalization. Undocumented migrant women may be more exposed to abuse and exploitative conduct, gender-based violence and harassment and intersecting forms of discrimination. Irregular migration status associated with restrictive legislative and policy responses may drive migrants into situations of vulnerability, which also reduce the development benefits of migration for migrants, their families and the communities involved. 12. The factors that lead migrants to find themselves in irregular situations are multilayered. Regardless of the circumstances that led them into irregularity, the enjoyment of their right to health, housing, decent work, access to justice, education and other rights is usually negatively affected. The denial of migrants’ rights is often closely linked to discriminatory laws and to the expression of prejudice in practice, including intolerance or xenophobia. 13. Undocumented migrants, including those with international protection needs, have human rights and need the protection of those rights, as many of them cannot return to their countries of origin for a wide range of legal and practical reasons. Considering that most migrants in irregular situations do not have access to social benefits, it is likely that a high proportion of them work in order to survive and thus may be having a significant impact on the economy through their contribution to the labour market. Irregular migration is often a consequence of limited regular pathways through which to migrate for work, safety or family reunification or because of inadequate information about other options. Policies that focus solely on returning migrants to their country of origin may also risk generating cycles of repeated migration in more critical conditions. GE.23-06641 3