Conventions override local laws

The fair treatment of migrant workers is, indeed, a challenge of paramount importance. There is no quick or easy way out of the daily difficulties of migrant workers. Their dramatic condition on all continents offers a highly visible example of collateral damage generated by the global financial crisis.

Is there any general solution for the improvement of their situation? A legal answer not mentioned in the editorial is provided by the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, adopted by the United Nations in 1990 and entering into force in 2003.

States party to this Convention have the legal obligation to ensure that all migrant workers and members of their families within their territory are treated fairly and without distinction for sex, race, colour, language, religion or conviction, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, nationality, age, economic position, property, marital status, birth or other status. Unfortunately, the Convention has been ratified by only 45 countries from 193 UN member states.

 It is not a utopian expectation to assert that universal ratification and implementation in good faith of this multilateral legal instrument would have a positive impact on the situation of migrant workers worldwide.

Why? In accordance with one of the fundamental rules of the law of treaties, expressed in Latin as “Pacta sunt servanda”, every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith. Moreover, a party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.

 Consequently, further political and diplomatic efforts for the universalisation of the relevant Convention on migrant workers are urgently needed. 

Ioan Voicu

Bangkok