Editorial
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419100900201 |
| Author | Jacqueline Smith,Leo Zwaak,Peter Baehr |
| Published date | 01 June 1991 |
| Date | 01 June 1991 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
NQHR
2/1991
EDITORIAL
The
aftermath of the Gulf-war has made it clear once again that the
international community hardly knows how to respond to mass movement
of people, escaping their territory because they have serious reasons to fear
that
their existence is in danger.
The
result of this was overcrowded
refugee-camps in Turkey and Iran. Both countries were faced with an
almost paralyzed United Nations
and
just at the time that the problems
there were hardly to be solved, it was realized that an extensive rescue-
program was needed. Although this rescue program proved to be sufficient
to meet
the
basic needs of those who fled from their country,
one
may ask
oneself for how long the United Nations will be able to shift their
responsibility to a few countries-which for different reasons.take.action
when the international community neglects to do so.
Where, with regard to the situation of refugees, one might have good
reasons to be pessimistic that their situation will alter in the
near
future,
but
it is also fair to mention
that
the international community is
not
completely reluctant to improve the situation of non-nationals. A good
example of this is the new international Convention on the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and
Members of their Families, which
has recently
been
approved by
the
United Nations General Assembly.
In this issue this document is highlighted by an article of Shirley
Hune
and
Jan
Niessen; the text of the Convention is published in an appendix.
Although
there
is still a long way to go for
the
implementation of this
document in national laws, it is clearly an improvement of the position of
migrant workers and their families.
It
is importantto notice that the present
Convention opens the possibility, although optional, to recognize the right
of individual petition. Some degree of scepticism
about
their willingness of
making such a declaration by
the
ratifying states may seem realistic,
however.
However,
one
should not forget
that
the individualpetition-system under
the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has
been
accepted much more
widely as it is the case with the Convention on the Elimination of All forms
of
Racial Discrimination,while countries which have accepted the individual
petition-system under both Conventions, are mostly those which host a
considerable number of migrant workers.
There
are
no sufficient reasons
to believe that those countries would
not
be prepared to accept the
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