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United Nations Migrant Workers Convention

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The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity

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Abstract

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICMW) is a comprehensive international human rights mechanism adopted by the United Nations in 1990 with the purpose of protecting the migrant workers and members of their families. However, as compared to other international human rights treaties, the ICMW has been less recognized by States. Till date there are only 54 States which have ratified the Convention, 13 signatories, and 131 No action. The aims of this chapter are therefore to provide a general assessment of the Convention and to identify the major obstacles that explain the low level of ratification. The obstacles include political will, legal barriers, economic obstacles, political obstacles, lack of awareness, public attitudes, and national sovereignty. This chapter also sheds light on the limitations of the ICMW in States which have ratified it, namely, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, and Sri Lanka. Overall, the findings reveal that though these States have ratified the ICMW, they do not fully conform to its obligations as there are still legal discrepancies, lack of awareness, corruption, and poor governance. However, the ICMW remains an important and highly relevant international human rights framework to govern the transnational mobility of people.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History and Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius

    Sheetal Sheena Sookrajowa

  2. University of Paris 13, Paris, France

    Antoine Pécoud

Authors
  1. Sheetal Sheena Sookrajowa
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  2. Antoine Pécoud
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Correspondence to Sheetal Sheena Sookrajowa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Socio & Anthro, Rm 309, Univ of Canterbury Dept of Socio & Anthro, Rm 309, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Steven Ratuva

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    Lyndon Fraser

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Sookrajowa, S.S., Pécoud, A. (2019). United Nations Migrant Workers Convention. In: Ratuva, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0242-8_142-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0242-8_142-1

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