Blog post written by Kathryn Allinson, a Refugee Law Initiative Research Affiliate undertaking a PhD in Law at Queen Mary University of London, and forms part of a series of blog posts analysing the final draft (objective by objective) of the UN’s Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
The overall purpose of objective 17 is the eradication of all forms of discrimination against migrants. The general principles of equality and non-discrimination are fundamental elements of international human rights law and must underpin any commitment to improving global migration. Discrimination is the basis of migrant vulnerability because it undermines their access to human rights protection and pushes them into a position of invisibility. Refusals of admission or removal based upon status are inherently discriminatory; such decisions are based on the ‘otherness’ of the migrant. It is this conditionality that makes the migrant vulnerable and it is this vulnerability that leads them to accept limitations on their wider gamut of rights (see Guild, Grant and Groenendijk, 2017). States justify this denial of rights by differentiating between migrants and citizens, where no such difference is permitted under international law as outlined in Article 2 of ICCPR, Article 2 CEDAW, Article 2 ICERD and HRC Gen Comm No 15 (1986) on the Conditions of Aliens.
Full blog post here
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