Fourth Meeting of States Parties

to Convention on Migrant Workers

1^st Meeting (AM)

States Parties to Migrant Workers Convention Elect Nine Members to Monitoring Body

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families expanded from 10 to 14 members today, as 9 members were elected during the fourth meeting of the States Parties to the United Nations treaty on migrant workers.

Held at United Nations Headquarters, the election replaced five members whose terms of office are due to expire on 31 December 2009 and added four new members, a requirement after Niger became the forty-first State Party to accede to the Convention on 1 July 2009.  Adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1990, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families entered into force in March 2003, after being ratified by 20 States.

In the first round of balloting Jose Brillantes (Philippines); Miguel Angel Ibarra Gonzalez (Guatemala); Prasad Kariyawasam (Sri Lanka); and Ahmadou Tall (Senegal) were elected to replace four of the five members whose terms of office are due to expire on 31 December 2009.  After obtaining the largest number of votes in the second round of balloting, Mehmet Sevim ( Turkey) was elected as the fifth replacement member.

Mr. Brillantes and Mr. Kariyawasam are currently members of the Committee, whose terms are due to expire.  The terms of five other Committee members, Francisco Alba (Mexico); Ana Elizabeth Cubias Medina (El Salvador); Ahmed Hassan El-Borai (Egypt); Abdelhamid El Jamri (Morocco); and Myriam Poussi (Burkina Faso); will expire on 31 December 2011.

The States Parties then elected four Committee members to fill the four slots created when the ten-member Committee was expanded by four, after the ratification by the forty-first State Party.  This requirement is part of Article 72, paragraph 1B of the Convention.  The four Committee members elected today were Fatoumata Abdourhamana Dicko ( Mali); Andrea Miller-Stennett ( Jamaica); Azad Taghizade ( Azerbaijan); and Francisco Carrion Mena ( Ecuador).  Mr. Taghizade is currently a Committee member, whose term is due to expire on 31 December.

Mr. Carrion Mena and Mr. Taghizade were then chosen by lot to serve for two-year terms. This provision is part of Article 72, paragraph 5B of the Convention. Ms. Diko and Ms. Miller-Stennett will serve four-year terms.

In other business, Gonzalo Gutierrez Reinel ( Peru) was elected chairperson of the fourth meeting while Raff Bukun-Olu Wole Onemola ( Nigeria) and Ferit Hoxha ( Albania) were elected vice chairpersons.

In opening remarks, Craig Mokhiber, the Secretary-General’s representative, said the number of States that had ratified or acceded to the Convention, since the third meeting on 6 December 2007, had increased from 37 to 42.  In addition to Niger, those other States were Jamaica, Nigeria, Paraguay and Rwanda.

As a critical concern of the United Nations, the protection of the human rights of migrants would be one of the six priority themes for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the next biennium.  In addition to addressing the increasing criminalization of irregular migration and migration detentions, the Commission will use the twentieth anniversary of the Assembly’s adoption of the treaty to promote further ratification, he said.

The Committee has held 11 sessions and examined 12 initial reports, while two additional initial reports were pending examination, Mr. Mokhiber said. Ecuador was the first State party to submit its second periodic report to the Committee.  Twenty-five other States parties were overdue with their initial reports, a serious issue, as the lack of reporting undermined the Committee’s effective functioning.

He was pleased to say that, on 15 September 2008, Mexico made a declaration under article 77 of the Convention.  Combined with Guatamala, there were now two States parties recognizing the Committee’s competence to consider communications from individuals about violations of the Convention.  Ten States parties were required before this communications procedure could enter into force, he added.

The Committee held a general discussion on migrant domestic workers during its last session in October and had begun creating a general comment on the same subject, he said.

Voting Results

First Round of Voting for Five Replacement Members

Number of ballot papers	41
Number of invalid ballots	41
Number of valid ballots	40
Abstentions	0
Number of Representatives Voting	40
Required Majority	21
Number of Votes Obtained:
Mr. Jose Brillantes (Philippines)	34
Mr. Migel Angel Ibarra Gonzalez (Guatemala)	34
Mr. Prasid Kariyawasam (Sri Lanka)	28
Mr. Ahmadou Tall (Senegal)	22
Mr. Mehmet Sevim (Turkey)	18
Mr. Francisco Carrion Mena (Ecuador)	18
Ms. Andrea Miller-Stennett (Jamaica)	17
Mr. Azad Taghizade (Azerbaijan)	14
Ms. Fatoumata Abdourhamana Dicko (Mali)	11

As Mr. Sevim and Mr. Carrion Mena received the same number of votes, the States Parties Chairman recommended that a second round of balloting be held for the fifth seat.

Second Round of Voting

Number of ballot papers	41
Number of invalid ballots	0
Number of valid ballots	41
Abstentions	0
Number of Representatives Voting	41
Required Majority	21
Number of Votes Obtained:
Mr. Francisco Carrion Mena (Ecuador)	17
Mr. Mehmet Sevim (Turkey)	24

Voting Results

First Round of Voting for Four New Members

Number of ballot papers	41
Number of invalid ballots	0
Number of valid ballots	41
Abstentions
Number of Representatives Voting	41
Required Majority	21
Number of Votes Obtained:
Ms. Fatoumata Abdourhamana Dicko (Mali)	39
Ms. Andrea Miller-Stennett (Jamaica)	38
Mr. Azad Taghizade (Azerbaijan)	38
Mr. Francisco Carrion Mena (Ecuador)	37

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For information media • not an official record