A/HRC/47/30 law and standards. The Special Rapporteur considers that, in the absence of an individualized assessment for each migrant concerned and other procedural safeguards, pushbacks are a violation of the prohibition of collective expulsion and heighten the risk of further human rights violations, and are incompatible with States’ obligations under international human rights law, in particular the prohibition of refoulement. 105. Lack of domestic asylum laws does not absolve States of their obligations to prevent refoulement under international human rights law. Whenever States bring a person within their jurisdiction by exercising control or authority over an area, place, individual or transaction, they are bound by their fundamental obligation not to engage in or contribute to refoulement. 106. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Special Rapporteur reiterates that while global public health crises may require travel restrictions, screening, testing, medical quarantine or isolation measures, these measures may not result in denying effective access to asylum and protection under international law. States must ensure that such measures are non-discriminatory, necessary, proportionate, subject to regular and independent review, and reasonable, in line with international law. Denial of access to territory without safeguards to protect against refoulement cannot be justified on the grounds of any health risk. B. Recommendations 107. The Special Rapporteur urges Member States to put an end to pushback practices, respect fully the prohibition of collective expulsion and uphold the principle of non-refoulement. The Special Rapporteur calls upon States to develop a human rights-based, gender-responsive, age- and child-sensitive approach to migration and border governance, that ensures that the human rights of migrants, including those in an irregular situation, are always the first consideration. The Special Rapporteur strongly recommends States and all relevant stakeholders to make use of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders. In particular, the Special Rapporteur urges States to: (a) Implement and fully respect international and regional human rights obligations and uphold the rule of law in the implementation of migration policies; (b) Ratify the core international human rights instruments 132 and continue efforts to ensure a human rights-based, age- and child-sensitive and gender-responsive implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the global compact on refugees; (c) Harmonize domestic legislation with international human rights law to prohibit refoulement and collective expulsion, and decriminalize irregular entry; (d) Ensure that border governance measures do not adversely affect the human rights of migrants; (e) Ensure that private actors who carry out search and rescue operations to aid migrants in distress are not criminalized or penalized for doing so; and ensure that administrative or criminal measures are not applied to deter or immobilize search and rescue capacities and humanitarian assistance at borders; (f) Protect and assist all migrants at international borders without discrimination; to this end, address bias in law enforcement and adopt and implement standard operating procedures that provide operational guidance on human rightscompliant border governance; (g) Ensure that each individual’s situation and reasons for entry are determined in a gender-responsive manner and that migrants who may be at risk of or 132 Information about the core international human rights instruments and their monitoring bodies is available at www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/coreinstruments.aspx. 19