A/RES/59/194
Development, 5 the World Summit for Social Development 6 and the Fourth World
Conference on Women, 7
Reaffirming also the provisions on the human rights of migrants contained in
the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference
against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance on
8 September 2001, 8 and expressing its satisfaction at the important recommendations
made for the development of international and national strategies for the protection
of migrants and for the design of migration policies that fully respect the human
rights of migrants,
Welcoming the renewed commitment made in the United Nations Millennium
Declaration 9 to take measures to ensure respect for and protection of the human
rights of migrants, migrant workers and their families, to eliminate the increasing
acts of racism and xenophobia in many societies and to promote greater harmony
and tolerance in all societies,
Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Special Rapporteur of the
Commission on Human Rights on the human rights of migrants, 10 especially the
work she has undertaken on the human rights of migrants, and taking note of the
conclusions and recommendations contained therein,
Taking note of advisory opinion OC-16/99, issued by the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights on 1 October 1999, on The Right to Information on Consular
Assistance in the Framework of the Guarantees of the Due Process of Law,
Taking note also of the Judgment of the International Court of Justice of
31 March 2004 in the case concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals, 11 and
recalling the obligations of States reaffirmed therein,
Taking note further of advisory opinion OC-18/03, issued by the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights on 17 September 2003, on The Juridical
Condition and Rights of Undocumented Migrants,
Aware of the increasing number of migrants worldwide, and bearing in mind
the situation of vulnerability in which migrants and their families frequently find
themselves, owing, inter alia, to their absence from their States of origin and to the
difficulties they encounter because of differences of language, custom and culture,
as well as the economic and social difficulties and obstacles to the return to their
States of origin of migrants who are non-documented or in an irregular situation,
Recognizing the positive contributions that migrants frequently make,
including through their eventual integration into their host society, and the efforts
that some host countries undertake to integrate migrants and their families,
_______________
5
See Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5–13 September
1994 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.95.XIII.18), chap. I, resolution 1, annex.
6
See Report of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 6–12 March 1995 (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.8), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.
7
See Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations
publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.
8
See A/CONF.189/12 and Corr.1, chap. I.
9
See resolution 55/2.
10
E/CN.4/2004/76 and Add.1–4.
11
See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 4 (A/59/4), chap. V,
sect. A.23.
2