A/58/275 (m) In September/October 2003 the Special Rapporteur will also participate in a regional consultation with NGOs in Asia. 4. In establishing her programme of visits, the Special Rapporteur decided to give priority to European and African countries in order to maintain a geographical balance in carrying out her activities. In this connection, she will undertake visits to Spain, Morocco, Belgium and Italy in the second half of 2003 and the first half of 2004. The Special Rapporteur received an invitation from the Government of Burkina Faso to undertake a country visit in the first half of 2003. The Special Rapporteur replied that she would like to undertake a subregional visit in order to study its migration situation and dynamics, and to that end she requested invitations from the Governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. She also sent a request to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to undertake an official visit in February 2004. 5. The Special Rapporteur continued to receive information about the situation of migrants worldwide and to exchange communications with Governments. A summary of the communications sent during the reporting period, together with Governments’ replies, will be submitted to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixtieth session. The main report of the Special Rapporteur to the sixtieth session of the Commission will focus on the situation of migrant domestic workers. In this connection, a questionnaire was sent to Governments, experts and NGOs in June 2003. III. Human rights of migrants in 2003 A. General observations of the Special Rapporteur 6. During the period under review, the Special Rapporteur has observed that the strengthening of security policies and the tendency to consider migration as a matter falling under State security plans pose a threat to the human rights of migrants. Governments’ strategies and policies adopted in response to the challenges presented by migration in its present dimensions have often failed to ensure respect for Governments’ human rights obligations vis-à-vis migrants. Under these circumstances, the Special Rapporteur increasingly views as a priority the promotion of a human rights-based approach to activities and policies relating to migration issues. 7. The international community is demonstrating increasing interest in the issue of migration. The Special Rapporteur has observed with satisfaction the growing number of regional consultative forums on migration. These include the Puebla Process in North and Central America, the Budapest Process in Europe, the Manila Process and the Bangkok Declaration in Asia and the Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MISDA) Process. Beyond regional initiatives, efforts to promote international cooperation in this field have also been initiated. In this connection, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the decision of the ILO Governing Body to devote the general discussion of the International Labour Conference in 2004 to the topic of migrant workers, as well as the greater focus on human rights in the IOM international dialogue on migration policy. The Special Rapporteur also welcomes the Berne Initiative, a consultative process launched to assess the desirability and 8