Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (1987);
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
(1990); and
- International Convention on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families (2003).
The latter, to which the United States, Canada,
Russia, India, Brazil, China, and most European coun-
tries are not states parties, purports to confirm a right
to “leave any State,” but conveys no right of entry
(International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families 2003).
Migrants are not a favored or much protected class
(Commission on Human Security 2003). In many peo-
ples’ minds “migrant” conjures up the idea of disad-
vantaged persons who cross international borders, too
often illegally, for primarily economic reasons. Wit-
ness the fear, anger, and recrimination generated by
ongoing immigration pressures from Africa to Europe
and Latin America to the United States. Other types
of migrants, those who may be described as forced
migrants, displaced persons, refugees, or stateless
persons, are nominally better protected (International
Organization for Migration 2011b). States, it seems,
are more willing to accept humanitarian obligations
towards persons whose presence is involuntary, on
account of adverse conditions or compulsions beyond
their control, especially if the obligations are tempo-
rary. But even refugees and stateless persons have no
right to enter per se.
The Convention relating to the Status of Refu-
gees (the Refugee Convention) entered into force in
1967 (Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees 1967).
