A/65/222 B. Decriminalizing and managing irregular migration 73. States should remove laws, policies, plans and programmes aimed at criminalizing irregular migration and should not consider breaches of immigration law a crime or punish such breaches with detention. 74. In line with the foregoing, the Special Rapporteur recommends that States: (a) Undertake policy reforms to remove detention as a punishment for breaches of immigration laws and policies; (b) Until such reforms are into effect, States should take all possible measures to suspend the application of detention as an anti-immigration measure and ensure that immigration detention is not applied to asylumseekers, children (whether unaccompanied or with families) or victims of trafficking, labour exploitation and abuse, or to other vulnerable groups. 75. States should consider that irregular migrants are generally in a very vulnerable condition and that irregularity is due to several factors (including restrictive migration policies, social exclusion and marginalization as well as demand for labour in countries of destination). States should accordingly: (a) Adopt integrated and protective approaches, instead of approaches that are punitive and based solely on security and border control concerns; (b) Design and implement programmes, plans and policies to address irregular migration in a comprehensive and holistic way, without resorting to its criminalization; (c) Take into account the root causes of migration and the importance of creating legal channels for migration in policymaking initiatives so that they can be comprehensive, human-centred and incorporate human rights; (d) Promote multi-pronged and multi-stakeholder initiatives, preferably including civil society and migrants themselves (such as research, advocacy strategies, policy discussions, etc.) in order to examine the context-specific and human rights-based options to address irregular migration. 1. Regularization policies, plans and programmes 76. States are encouraged to adopt and promote regularization programmes, plans and policies as a crucial strategy for ensuring migrants’ rights, prevent human rights violations and abuses associated with irregular migration, address marginalization and facilitate the integration of migrants and their families in the communities of destination. 77. States are particularly encouraged to: (a) Develop public policies to regularize non-documented migrants (especially children and their families) through flexible, permanent and regular legal avenues and by extraordinary regularizations aimed at contributing to the social integration of the large number of irregular migrants living in host societies; (b) Consider regularization programmes as a key element of migration policies in order to ensure social integration and family reunification, limit 10-47488 19