In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 55/93 to recognize International Migrants Day, a day which celebrates the UN’s adoption of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (Migrant Worker Convention) on December 18, 1990. The Migrant Worker Convention guarantees migrant workers and their families fundamental rights including: freedom from discrimination based on national or ethnic origin, race, sex, religion (or any other status) in all aspects of work; equality before the law regardless of a migrant’s legal status; and freedom from arbitrary expulsion of migrants from their country of employment.

Despite America’s rich social history of immigration, certain migrant communities, especially those of color, have faced discrimination and exclusion from basic human rights protections. “From the Chinese guest workers who built the U.S. railroad system and the Braceros, Mexican guest farm workers from 1942 to 1964, who worked under unjust and slave-like conditions, to the present day farm workers, nannies, and hotel workers, many of whom continue to endure slave-like conditions, exploitative hours, racist attitudes, and precarious conditions, the struggle for justice continues,” states Janvieve Williams Comrie in a press release by the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center.

An article in The Independent sheds light on human rights education projects that seek to highlight the injustice and struggles that Central American migrants face.

In Manila, Philippines, women march with the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees against modern-day slavery.

By lesoltis
This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 9:27 am and is filed under Commemorations, Economic and Labor Rights, Globalization, lesoltis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.