Response to call for input for the report on “Human Rights of Migrants” by the Secretary-General of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

: Published: 17 October 2025

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) is an international network of over 100 NGOs in all regions of the world, which advocates for the rights of migrants and trafficked persons. Member organisations provide direct assistance to trafficked persons, migrants, sex workers, and other people in need of support; carry out awareness campaigns; conduct trainings; and engage in policy advocacy at the national and regional levels. The International Secretariat of GAATW is based in Bangkok, Thailand, and supports its members through research, international advocacy, capacity building, and information and knowledge exchange.

We thank the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for the opportunity to contribute to the comprehensive report entitled “Human Rights of Migrants.”

The state of human rights for migrant workers, particularly women in the informal sector, remains deeply precarious despite international standards^{^[1]} that affirm their rights and dignity. Across the regions, the treatment of migrant workers is influenced by a variety of factors, including repressive migration policies, weak social and labour protections, and systemic discriminatory practices. While there are mechanisms that uphold migrant rights, promote integration, and provide pathways for regularisation, the rise of anti-migration politics and securitisation threatens not only migrants but also the credibility of the global human rights system. Reclaiming the human rights of migrants is an urgent challenge and a call for global solidarity on this issue.

Over the years, GAATW’s work has focused on cross-border migrants and trafficked persons, particularly women in low-wage labour. Our engagement on the issue of migration has contributed to shifting the conversation on trafficking from a protectionist, victim-focused approach to one that emphasises the aspirations and agency of women migrants, and the need for rights protection in migration and at workplaces.

Upholding the human rights of migrants means ensuring access to decent work, fair treatment, access to services and legal mechanisms, and the freedom to move and live without fear. It also requires challenging structural inequalities, including racism, xenophobia, and gender discrimination, that make migrants vulnerable to abuse. Protecting migrants’ rights is not only a legal obligation of governments, but also a moral and political responsibility in building respectful societies that value social justice.

Security frameworks must not be weaponised against migrants.

Framing migration as a security threat often results in the creation of discriminatory policies and practices, human rights abuses, externalisation of borders, and large-scale deportations and detention. These actions violate the fundamental rights and human dignity of migrants.

In a GAATW statement, we raised significant concerns regarding the use of security frameworks to criminalise migration and silence the dissent of human rights defenders.^{^[2]} Recent reports show that migrants from low-income communities in the US are being targeted by authorities without complying with legal procedures. The emergence of authoritarian regimes and far-right populist movements is equally concerning, as it has led to increased xenophobia, repression, and harmful policies against migrants. These practices also influence the political landscapes in democracies, as they weaken human rights protection and fuel social division.

In the EU, there has been a significant pushback against a new proposal on the Return Regulation, which focuses on increasing deportations through harsh measures and detentions. Over 200 NGOs, including GAATW members, have signed a petition^{^[3]} calling on EU Member States to reject the deportation measures and instead direct resources towards policies rooted in safety, protection, inclusion and human dignity, regardless of status.

Having a gender-responsive and rights-centred approach to migration governance enforces equality, inclusion and protection of human rights. GAATW emphasises the importance of upholding due process and ensuring all migrants have access to legal services which uphold international human rights standards. We therefore oppose worksite raids that dangerously undermine the rights and risk the safety of all workers, particularly migrants, as this may result in the detention and deportation of forced and exploited workers.

Strengthening of labour protection standards helps end exploitation.

Where labour standards are weak, poorly enforced, and do not recognise collective bargaining rights, it increases the risks of abuse and exploitation amongst migrants. And as migration is a gendered process, many migrant women in search of decent work often end up in sectors such as domestic work, care, agriculture, and manufacturing, where labour standards are either poorly regulated or compromised. This creates conditions that allow exploitative practices such as unjust wage rates, excessive working hours, unsafe working conditions, and gender-based violence. We recommend that there should be strong legal frameworks, efficient enforcement mechanisms, and impartial labour rights, regardless of an individual's migration status. Through this, governments can bridge the protection gaps that place migrant women at high risk of abuse and exploitation. For example, ratifying and implementing ILO Convention 189 is a crucial step in committing to stronger labour protections for migrant domestic and care workers. This can facilitate a shift in the treatment of workers, labour security and protection, and access to inclusive social protection schemes.

Equally important is the inclusion of migrant women in the formulation, monitoring, and enforcement of these labour standards. When labour laws guarantee fair wages, safe workplaces, social protection, and access to justice, they help shift power away from abusive employers and/or agents. As a result, it empowers workers themselves. Strengthened labour protection also reinforces the principle of safeguarding the rights and dignity of migrant workers at the workplace, regardless of gender, nationality, or legal status.

In the Global Consultation on Prevention of Human Trafficking and Unsafe Migration organised by GAATW, we emphasised that both origin and destination countries must enhance labour rights and protections to prevent trafficking and exploitation. This can be done by recognising labour rights in unregulated sectors, abolishing restrictive and discriminatory migration policies, reforming tier-tied visa schemes, and enabling all migrant workers to join unions/collectives. Additionally, strengthening labour inspection systems is essential for monitoring working conditions and prioritising the rights of both regular and irregular migrant workers.^{^[4]}

Preventing trafficking must involve a strong commitment to protecting the human rights of migrants, rather than restricting them.

GAATW highlights how states often use the need to prevent trafficking in persons as a reason to justify stricter implementation of border controls and anti-migration initiatives, particularly affecting women’s labour mobility. The prevention of trafficking should not serve as a rationale for infringing upon the human rights of migrants. Protecting their rights is crucial in our efforts to combat trafficking effectively.

The international and regional laws on trafficking in persons highlight specific risks to women and children who are trafficked.^{^[5]} This emphasis on gender has resulted in portraying women's migrations and women themselves as fundamentally vulnerable, and framing them as victims of crime and human rights violations, while also raising doubts about the suitability of women working outside the household.^{^[6]}

These societal perceptions have led to bans on women's migration and the profiling of women travellers or migrant workers as potential victims of trafficking. These have also led to harmful laws, policies and practices aimed at curtailing migrant women’s sexual and reproductive freedoms, such as bans on migrant women engaging in sex work even where it is decriminalised, or restrictions on the rights of trafficking survivors housed in shelters to have romantic relationships with men. It is also crucial to highlight that measures aimed at addressing irregular migration or combating human trafficking should not be discriminatory, including subjecting migrants to profiling on grounds of discrimination, regardless of whether they have been smuggled or trafficked.^{^[7]} While the focus on women has been important, it has unfortunately resulted in the neglect or underdevelopment of services for and the identification of male migrants who have also been trafficked.

Given these reflections on our work, we strongly urge Member States to renew their human rights commitments towards all human beings and to meet their legal obligations under international law towards migrants and trafficked persons.

Resources:

As an Alliance, we would like to share some evidence-based reports from members and partners across the regions on critical issues facing migrant workers, especially women. Most of these publications came from joint feminist participatory action research initiatives. Please click on the titles to access the full reports.

Notes:

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^[1] ILO, International labour standards and labour migration, https://www.ilo.org/topics-and-sectors/labour-migration/international-labour-standards-and-labour-migration.

^[2] https://gaatw.org/news/1460-uphold-human-security-and-human-rights-end-mass-deportations-and-state-repression

^[3] More than 200 Organisations: Inhumane Deportation Rules Should be Rejected, 2025, https://gaatw.org/news/1471-more-than-200-organisations-inhumane-deportation-rules-should-be-rejected

^[4] GAATW. Strengthening labour rights to prevent human trafficking and unsafe migration, Outcome of the GAATW Global Consultation on Prevention of Human Trafficking and Unsafe Migration, 2019, https://gaatw.org/news/989-strengthening-labour-rights-to-prevent-human-trafficking-and-unsafe-migration#:~:text=Given%20the%20above%2C%20we%20concluded,migrant%20workers%20above%20administrative%20offences.

^[5] For example, the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children; SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution (2002); ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2015). The UN General Assembly has a recurring resolution on the trafficking in women and girls.

^[6] GAATW Position Paper on Facilitating Migration and Fulfilling Rights – To Reduce Smuggling of Migrants and Prevent Trafficking in Persons, 2017, https://gaatw.org/news/889-facilitating-migration-and-fulfilling-rights#_edn51

^[7] OHCHR, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders, A/69/CRP.1, 23 July 2014, Principle 8.

News

Response to call for input for the report on “Human Rights of Migrants” by the Secretary-General of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Security frameworks must not be weaponised against migrants.

Strengthening of labour protection standards helps end exploitation.

Preventing trafficking must involve a strong commitment to protecting the human rights of migrants, rather than restricting them.

Resources:

Access to Justice

Social Inclusion

Working Conditions

Right to Work and Mobility

Collectivisation of Workers

Violence and Harassment (Spanish)

Notes:

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