A/65/222 the human rights of former irregular migrants. The Special Rapporteur wishes to mention an illustrative number of examples of these programmes, which have been implemented in some countries in the Latin American region. Between 2002 and 2006, Mexico implemented a large-scale regularization programme, which included 15,000 non-documented migrants, mostly from countries in Central America. In 2008, Mexico adopted a new regularization programme for undocumented migrants who entered its territory before 2008, to be implemented between November 2008 and May 2011. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela implemented “Mission Identidad” (Identity Mission) between 1998 and 2006, which benefited approximately 415,000 irregular migrants who had lived undocumented in the country for many years. 60. The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw special attention to the large-scale regularization programmes in Argentina, which have been implemented in the context of the economic and financial crisis and have been used by the Government as a strategy and an effective tool to successfully overcome the crisis. In 2004, Argentina adopted its “Patria Grande” programme, including Decree No. 1169, which included a comprehensive approach to address irregular migration under the framework of the Migratory Law (Act 25875). The latter framework establishes that nationals of States Members MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) or associate States (Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)) with no criminal background can obtain legal residence in Argentina. This programme has benefited 800,000 irregular migrants and contributed to a decrease in both the number of undocumented migrants and the unemployment rate. 18 61. Large-scale regularization programmes in Brazil (2009), Chile (2007-2008) and Ecuador (2009-2010) are additional good examples from the Latin American region. 2. Promising policies and programmes 62. Creating legal options to address the situation of persons who are not deemed refugees but who may require international protection on an individual basis is one of the most promising policies and programmes that have been drawn to the Special Rapporteur’s attention. Promising measures in this regard include the “discretionary leave to remain” and the “humanitarian protection leave” available in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which can be granted for a maximum three-year period and which are available to individuals who have not been considered for international protection or who have been excluded or to persons, who, if returned to their countries, might face serious risk to their life arising from the death penalty, unlawful killing, torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Similarly in Germany, the commissions for hardship cases, established as part of the German Residence Act of 2005, may recommend granting a residence permit to unsuccessful asylum-seekers who, otherwise, would be obliged to leave the country. This mechanism enables the authorities to review the individual circumstances of the applicants beyond the requirements set up in the international refugee regime. __________________ 18 16 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 10-point plan expert round table No. 3, “The return of non-refugees and alternative migration options” (Geneva, 30 November-1 December 2009), summary report, December 2009, available from: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/ 4ba9ddd22.html. 10-47488