E/CN.4/2002/94 page 6 6. Throughout 2001, the Special Rapporteur gave priority to the preparations for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance and the Conference itself, as requested by the Commission in its resolutions concerning her mandate. Resolution 2001/52 reaffirmed the responsibility of Governments to safeguard and protect migrants against illegal or violent acts, in particular acts of racial discrimination and crimes perpetrated with racist or xenophobic motivation by individuals or groups, and urged them to take firmer action in that regard. 7. Lastly, in response to the Commission on Human Rights’ request to her, the Special Rapporteur has continued to study the situation of migrants’ rights so as to formulate appropriate recommendations to prevent and remedy violations of those rights wherever they may occur. To that end, the present report also advocates the effective application of the relevant international standards on the subject. II. LEGAL FRAMEWORK 8. In this report, the Special Rapporteur, encouraged by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2001/52 to continue to examine ways and means of overcoming existing obstacles to the full and effective protection of the human rights of migrants, discusses the changes to the legal framework for her mandate that have occurred during 2001. The Special Rapporteur refers to her previous report to the Commission, at its fifty-seventh session (E/CN.4/2001/83), which contains an extensive discussion of the reference legal framework for her mandate. 9. First, the Special Rapporteur must single out the great contribution made by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance to the protection of migrants’ rights. The agreements reached during that Conference, published on 2 January 2002 (A/CONF.189/12) and due to be considered by the General Assembly, are important indicators of States’ willingness to see to the full and effective protection of those rights as an addition to their existing international obligations. The Conference engendered numerous recommendations on steps to be taken by all States to ensure that migrants could live free of racial violence, discrimination and xenophobia.1 The World Conference also recognized the important link between migration control and the need to protect the human rights of all migrants.2 10. Within the legal framework mapped out for her report to the Commission at its fifty-seventh session, the Special Rapporteur emphasized the importance of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families of 18 December 1990. She commented in the report that the Convention was due to enter into force imminently, since the ratifications of Uruguay (15 February) and Belize (14 November) had been received in 2001 and only three more ratifications were needed for entry into force. 11. During her official visit to Ecuador, the Special Rapporteur was also informed that Ecuador’s Congressional Committee on International Affairs and National Defence had endorsed the text of the Convention and ratification was imminent. That would make the 18th