E/CN.4/2001/83 page 4 The Special Rapporteur concludes by stating that, based on the information made available to her during the past year, she does not believe that violations of the human rights of migrants have decreased. She notes that, with regard to smuggling and trafficking in migrants, the period under review has revealed one of the hardest faces of migration, with reports about large numbers of migrants who have fallen into the hands of smugglers and traffickers to be exploited in sex or degrading work and migrants who have died in the cargo compartments of trucks, in the holds of ships and on board rafts. The Special Rapporteur hopes that the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and particularly its two Protocols will put an end to such situations. She also expresses the hope that the present report will draw attention to situations and obstacles to the full and effective protection of the human rights of migrants and possible measures to prevent the abuses which millions of persons throughout the world have to endure because of their status as migrants. Introduction 1. This report is submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/48 of 25 April 2000. It is the second annual report which the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Gabriela Rodríguez Pizarro, has submitted for the Commission’s consideration and also the second submitted to the Commission since the Economic and Social Council established the mandate on the “human rights of migrants” by its decision 1999/239, in which it took note of Commission resolution 1999/44. 2. Chapter I contains a general description of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate. Chapter II describes the legal framework of the mandate, while chapter III describes methods of work for fulfilling the mandate. Chapter IV provides a general overview of the situation of migration and the various situations which arise in relation to the question in the framework of the mandate, as well as situations which require greater attention by the Special Rapporteur. Chapter V offers detailed information on the main activities which the Special Rapporteur has carried out pursuant to her mandate during the period under consideration, including the emergency situations which called for action by her. Chapter VI contains the concluding observations and the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur to Governments, civil society and migrants themselves. The report analyses the questions considered in the last report the Special Rapporteur submitted to the Commission and is also an attempt to give a more detailed explanation of the new headings introduced last year. The Special Rapporteur is grateful for the comments and information which she received in response to her first report to the Commission and which she has tried to incorporate or draw attention to in the present report. 3. The Special Rapporteur is also submitting an addendum to this report describing her visit to Canada from 17 to 30 September 2000. I. MANDATE 4. At its fifty-fifth session, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 1999/44, by which it decided to appoint, for a three-year period, a special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants to examine ways and means to overcome the obstacles existing to the full and effective protection of the human rights of this vulnerable group, including obstacles and difficulties for the return of migrants who are non-documented or in an irregular situation.