PART 2.1 In 1975 ILO adopted the Convention concerning Migrations in Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and Treatment of Migrant Workers.88 The Convention obliges States parties to respect the basic human rights of all migrant workers89 – irrespective of their legal status in the country of employment. However, as with the 1949 Migration for Employment Convention, this obligation does not extend to the right to equal opportunity and treatment with nationals.90 The first part of the Convention is devoted to suppression of migration in abusive conditions. States parties are required to establish the situation of migrant workers within their own territory and whether the conditions under which they are living and working contravene relevant laws and regulations (art. 2), and to take the necessary and appropriate measures, within their jurisdictions or in cooperation with other States, to combat clandestine migration and the illegal employment of migrants. Measures are to be taken to ensure that persons responsible for illegal migration are prosecuted. Importantly, States are required to provide minimum legal protection for migrant workers whose situation is irregular and basic human rights are not to be Convention concerning Migrations in Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and Treatment of Migrant Workers, 1975, ILO No. 143, entered into force 9 December 1978 [Hereinafter: ILO Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention]. 88 Ryszard Cholewinski cites an ILO Committee of Experts in support of the contention that the reference to basic rights is, in fact, extremely limited and should be taken to refer to the most fundamental of rights, including the right to life, the prohibition on torture and the right to a fair trial; it would not cover the right to equal opportunity and treatment with nationals: Migrant Workers in International Human Rights Law: Their Protection in Countries of Employment (1997), pp. 103 and 133. 89 In both Conventions, the right to equal opportunity and treatment with nationals is extended only to migrants “lawfully” within the territory of the country of employment: ILO Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), article 6; ILO Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, Part II. 90 68 conditional upon the circumstances of residence. Provision must also be made for civil or criminal sanctions for organizing migration with a view to abusive employment as well as for illegal employment and trafficking of migrant workers (art. 6 (1)). THE MIGRANT WORKERS CONVENTION The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (Migrant Workers Convention) was adopted by the General Assembly in 1990. As stated in its preamble, the Convention is intended to expand upon rather than to replace or modify existing rights. It adopts an inclusive definition of “migrant worker”91 and applies to all migrant workers and their families without distinction of any kind. Key provisions of the Migrant Workers Convention with special resonance for trafficking include: • Recognition that migrant workers and members of their families, being non‑nationals residing in States of employment or in transit, are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse (preamble); • Reiteration of the right to life (art. 9); • Reiteration of the prohibitions on torture, slavery, servitude and forced labour (arts. 10 and 11); • Recognition of the right to liberty and security of the person (art. 16); • Obligation on States parties to protect all migrant workers effectively: “against violence, physical injury, threats and intimidation, whether by public officials or by private individuals, groups or institutions” (art. 16 (2)); “The term ‘migrant worker’ refers to a person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.” The Convention also defines the following terms: “frontier worker”, “seasonal worker”, “seafarer”, “worker on an offshore installation”, “itinerant worker”, “projecttied worker”, “specified-employment worker" and “selfemployed worker” (all in article 2). 91 RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING