Adrija Guhathakurta
National Law University, Odisha
Introduction:
Migration across borders has always been subject to xenophobic interference and racism. Apart from that, this activity has faced maximum backlash when it came to pandemics and epidemics. At the time of such pandemics, it is often required to maintain social distancing. The influx of migrants from different parts of the world has led to a rise in the cases at the time of similar pandemics such as HIV AIDs and tuberculosis, hence, developing a perpetual reluctance towards providing migrants with equal care and health amenities at the times of global health emergencies. The right to health and life form the basis for human rights. In this article, we take a glimpse of such rights and the significance of the same at the time of pandemics while having a look at how international organizations and conventions have dealt with migration across borders, including at times of pandemic.
Migrants and International Organizations At The Time Of Pandemics:
It has always been of prime importance to collaborate on an international level when it came to addressing the issue of migration across borders, especially at the time of pandemics and epidemics alike. History is evident regarding the same as we take into account the global scenario in case of HIV AIDs, Tuberculosis, and more. According to the International Organization of Migration, whenever the Global Aids Response is considered, migrants are the usual targets for pursuing any sort of HIV prevention steps or actions. However, IOM has taken a fair number of steps in addressing the problem by implementing various projects, related to HIV AIDs. IOM partnered, for the execution of such projects, with governments, other different international organizations and various civil societies all across the world. One of the primary initiatives by IOM, regarding the coping mechanism of HIV AIDs, is the HIV prevention and research along with several other services that IOM provides, including voluntary HIV testing and providing counseling sessions to migrants. Another global health emergency that required an international collaboration to address the issue of migrant health and dignity is the Tuberculosis outbreak. World Health Organization came out with a framework that dealt with the actions and steps needed to prevent and reduce the burden of Tuberculosis amongst the migrants. They put forth a carefully executed plan that went by the name: Stop TB Partnership’s Global Plan. Apart from that they also took into account the agenda dealing with the Sustainable Development Goals. The plan provides for various instruments to deal with the problems of migration at a national level while calling for participation in activities to be conducted across all the three different pillars that are responsible for migrant-sensitive care and prevention when it comes to the End TB Strategy. As we talk about the current scenario of COVID-19 invasion on the world, we see that the migrants are spread and scattered across various borders with a substantial risk of being vulnerably subject to the infection. The same has been brought to light by IOM. There are various conventions and statutes that state why it is important to maintain basic human rights when it comes to addressing migration at a global level. I, hereby, put forth some of them to bring a clearer picture of the ways a nation should treat a migrant, especially at the time of global health emergencies like pandemics.
Migration And Human Rights:
There is no one particular way of describing what it means to be a migrant, albeit, according to Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Migration and Human Rights: Improving Human Rights-Based Governance of International Migration (2013), migrants are usually referred to as international migrants. There are various other definitions of migrants. Migrant workers have been described by Article 1 of The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW). Other definitions include that of non-documented migrant workers who basically are unauthorized migrant workers without legal status in a country. Migrants, also, include refugees and asylum seekers whose rights are described under IJRC’s Thematic Guide on Asylum & the Rights of Refugees. Further, migrants can also come under the category of a smuggled person, a stateless person, or a trafficked person. When it comes to the rights of migrants, they are entitled to all the basic human rights as any other individual including right to life and right to health. Most of the time the migrants are not provided with the same solely on the basis of the argument of the legality of their status. Hence many such migrants are forced to endure unemployment, and at times of pandemics, such becomes a major hazard to sustain basic rights to health. According to Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, all persons are subject to basic human rights, and a migrant is included in the same irrespective of their legal status. It was declared in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, on the Juridical Conditions and Rights of Undocumented Migrants:
“A person who enters a State and assumes an employment relationship, acquires his labor human rights in the State of employment, irrespective of his migratory status, because respect and guarantee of the enjoyment and exercise of those rights must be made without any discrimination.
In this way, the migratory status of a person can never be a justification for depriving him of the enjoyment and exercise of his human rights, including those related to employment.”
The right to life is the most important right that every individual enjoys, including the migrants. According to Article 6 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 9 of International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW), it is the obligation of the state to maintain the same. When it comes to the right to health, the importance of the same has been highlighted in the Article 12 of International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)where it has been described as:
“The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”.
Conclusion:
Xenophobia and prejudice should not be brought into the equation when it comes to addressing human rights at the time of pandemics and epidemics alike. What we need to understand here is migrants are forced to leave their home country because of chaos and lack of survival facilities there. As per Abhijit Banerjee, in his book ‘Good Economics for Hard Times’, migration is usually the consequence of multiple sociological and economic degradation in the country leading to the citizens moving out in search of better opportunities and protection. For instance, the refugees of Syria and migrants from Mexico. The inherent fear of contamination and spread of infection takes shape at the time of pandemics but issues that give rise to migration don’t diminish either. It is the right of every person on this planet to have access to basic health amenities and that happens to be one of the primary causes of actions to be neglected at the time of health emergencies, in case of migrants. These rights that migrants enjoy have been designed and put forth because there is a dire need for mankind to respect them at all costs, especially when people are dying at the borders because of the lack of proper healthcare facilities. Looking at the current picture of how migration is being dealt in various countries at the time of COVID-29, I feel there is the requirement of a much more collaborative effort by the various communities of the world and it should start at the local level, at the very roots responsible for the inception of such hatred towards our foreign friends who are in dire need of help. People should join hands and governments should collaborate with more international organizations while funding, substantially, the ones at the national level for coming with better policies to address the problem of migrant health during pandemics.
