Vienna Chapter
Mr. Chairman,
1. At the outset, allow me to congratulate you on behalf of the Group of 77
and China on your election as Chairman of the first meeting of the Working Group
on the Smuggling of Migrants. I would like to assure you of our full support
and collaboration. I would also like to thank the Secretariat for the preparations
of the meeting including for the background documents that I will touch in a
moment.
2. Different aspects of "Smuggling of migrants" have been previously discussed
in other forums, such as during the 21st Commission of Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice. The Group would like to remind that the purpose of the establishment
of this Working Group is to advise and assist the Conference of Parties to UNTOC
in the implementation of its mandate regarding the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol.
3. In this regard, the Group notes that problems and good practices related
to several aspects of this problem have already been identified earlier, as
indicated in the documents prepared by the Secretariat. Nevertheless, to date,
many members of our Group continue to be victims of this scourge and/or in the
fight against it. The Group believes that there is still a lot of work to be
done.
4. The Group would like to highlight, inter alia, the following aspects of great
importance to our members:
a) The development or strengthening of laws to maximize opportunities for international
cooperation, including in extradition and mutual legal assistance, as well as
the establishment and maintenance of direct channels of communication between
border control agencies, as appropriate.
b) The obligation of all States parties to take all appropriate measures to
protect the rights of victims of smuggling, and prevent them from being subjected
to torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. In
this regard, the Group looks forward to the implementation of the Resolution
entitled: "Promoting efforts to eliminate violence against migrants, migrant
workers and their families", adopted by the 21st session of the Commission on
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in April 2012.
c) The importance of provision of technical assistance to States that are frequently
countries of origin or transit for persons who have been the object of smuggling.
Mr. Chairman,
5. The Group would like to urge all States, international organizations and
relevant stakeholders to take into account in their policies and initiatives
on migration issues the global character of the migratory phenomenon and to
give due consideration to international, regional and bilateral cooperation
in this field, with a view to addressing, in a comprehensive manner, its causes
and consequences and granting priority to the protection of the human rights
of migrants.
6. In this context, the Group looks forward to a productive discussion and exchange
of best practices in order to obtain concrete actions to address in a proper
way the smuggling of migrants at various levels.
Many thanks!
|
|
| |
| First
Page Vienna Chapter | G-77 Homepage |