From OHCHR: The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) have decided to elaborate a Joint General Comment on the human rights of children in the context of international migration. The Committees are seeking submissions from all interested stakeholders in all regions in order to obtain a wide range of perspectives to inform the drafting process.

The objective of the joint general comment is to contribute to improving the protection of children in the context of international migration, which are in a particular situation of vulnerability.  Specific goals include providing guidance for States parties and other stakeholders in developing relevant policies; providing both Committees with a specific tool to facilitate their role in monitoring the implementation of their respective treaties; promoting a clearly articulated interpretation of the relevant provisions of both treaties; and highlighting the relevance of a rights-based approach to the phenomenon of children in the context of international migration.

The submissions should relate to the situation of human rights of the following categories of children (persons under the age of 18) in the context of international migration:

  • Children that migrate with their parents who are migrant workers;
  • Children that are born to parents who are migrant workers in countries of transit and destination;
  • Migrant children that return to their country of origin, either voluntarily or by force, alone or with their parents;
  • Children left behind by their parents (or one of them) who have migrated to another country; and
  • Children that migrate unaccompanied and separated from their parents (for reasons such as seeking employment, family reunification or as victims of trafficking, labour exploitation and child labour).

In developing this Joint General Comment, both the CMW and CRC Committees are keen on benefitting from the expertise of relevant international human rights mechanisms, United Nations specialized agencies and other entities, civil society and academia, and believe that the views of these stakeholders are essential to this exercise.

We are therefore pleased to share with you the concept note on behalf of the CMW and CRC Committees. The concept note is also available in French and Spanish here.

Written contributions on the theme of the Joint General Comment should be sent electronically in Word format to the following email address: [email protected].  Please indicate “Submission for general comment on the rights of the child in the context of migration” in the subject heading of the e-mail. Submissions should not exceed 10 pages and should be received by 29 February 2016 at the latest.

As written contributions shall not be translated, to facilitate the work of the Committee and to ensure broad accessibility through their posting on the webpage of the CMW (unless requested otherwise), submissions would be appreciated in English or French, the working languages of the Secretariat.

Please feel free to circulate this call for submissions through your networks.