The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) has issued its findings on Chile, which it examined during its latest session.
CMW welcomed the approval of the Law on Migration and Foreigners, which, after eight years of discussion, brings positive changes in line with the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
The Committee, however, was particularly concerned that hundreds of people, including Venezuelan nationals, had been expelled, with two recent expulsions having taken place in February. It stressed that the Convention forbade collective expulsions, and that each case of expulsion must be examined and decided on an individual basis.
The Committee made the following key recommendations to the Government of Chile:
- Protect the rights of migrant workers and members of their families, in particular the right to health, and mitigate the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Develop measures to eliminate xenophobia and discriminatory stereotypes about migrant workers and their families, including through campaigns with measures targeting both public servants and the general public;
- Ensure legal and effective protection for migrant workers and their families who report abuse and mistreatment or discrimination, regardless of their migration status and the work they do;
- Protect the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers with border management measures that are in line with the principle of non-refoulement, the prohibition of arbitrary as well as collective expulsions; and restrict the use of armed forces at the borders;
- Design and implement a comprehensive policy to ensure accessible and affordable regularisation for migrant workers and their families who are in an irregular situation.
The Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers’ findings on Chile, officially known as Concluding Observations, are now available at the session website of the Committee.
The Committee will resume its current session on 29 and 30 April 2021 to further review, with its eventual adoption, a general comment on migrants’ rights to liberty, freedom from arbitrary detention and its connection with other human rights. It is due to hold its next session from 27 September to 8 October 2021.