A/66/264 15. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur participated in the Festival Viva América, organized by Casa América, in Madrid (October 2010) and the International Conference on Protecting and Supporting Children on the Move, organized by the Global Movement for Children, with the support of Save the Children and other organizations, in Barcelona, Spain (5-7 October 2010), together with the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences. On 8 and 9 November 2010, the Special Rapporteur also participated in the Fourth Global Forum on Migration and Development, hosted by the Government of Mexico in Puerto Vallarta, on the topic of partnerships for migration and human development. 16. In the fulfilment of his mandate, the Special Rapporteur also issued, separately or jointly with special procedures and other United Nations human rights mechanisms, several statements to bring critical issues relating to the human rights of migrants to the attention of the international community. These included joint statements on International Migrants Day (18 December) with the Chair of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, calling for wider ratification of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. III. Main thematic issues examined by the Special Rapporteur 17. The Special Rapporteur focused on three main thematic issues during his term as mandate holder, namely, criminalization of irregular migration, protection of children in the context of migration, and the rights of migrants to health and adequate housing. They are briefly summarized below. As a general rule, the Special Rapporteur held that the guiding principle of migration governance must be the fulfilment and protection for all migrants, regardless of their immigration status, of their internationally recognized human rights at all stages of the migratory processes — in countries or territories of origin, transit and destination (A/65/222, para. 67). 18. The Special Rapporteur observed with deep concern the increasing trend towards criminalization of irregular migration and the increasing abuse of irregular migrants throughout the migration process. 4 Two measures taken by States illustrated this general trend: the externalization of migration control policies and the criminalization of labour migration. In efforts to curb irregular migration and simultaneously address national security issues, the externalization of border controls to countries of origin and transit through bilateral agreements to restrict migratory flows has contributed to a tendency to treat violations of migration procedures as criminal rather than administrative offences. States have also resorted to criminalization by making irregular stay in the country a criminal offence. He noted that these measures have weakened the human rights protection of migrants, as seen in the administrative detention of migrants intercepted at sea and/or by land, outbreaks of xenophobic abuse and violence in countries of destination and the expansion of smuggling and trafficking. While acknowledging the sovereign right of States to safeguard borders and manage migration, the Special Rapporteur observed that these policies fail to adequately acknowledge the demand-driven nature of __________________ 4 6 See A/65/222, A/HRC/7/12 and A/HRC/17/33. 11-44418