IMBR Initiative
The movement and the rights of people crossing borders around the world are inadequately governed and incompletely protected by a fragmented patchwork of international institutions and norms. In response, the International Migrants Bill of Rights (IMBR) contributes a comprehensive, coherent articulation of the legal framework that protects the rights of all international migrants, regardless of the impetus of their migration.
Based at Georgetown University Law Center, the IMBR Initiative contributes to important, ongoing debates about the way the world views and treats people who cross borders. Accessible yet substantiated by extensive legal research, the IMBR promotes the normative foundation for human rights protections at multiple levels of supranational migration governance. Because norms and governance mutually reinforce one another, strengthening one – through the IMBR and the work of the IMBR Initiative– stands to increase the effectiveness of the other.
The Vision of the IMBR Initiative is a world in which the human rights of all international migrants are protected, regardless of the impetus of their migration. Individuals can be migrants regardless of whether their migration is temporary, lawful, regular, irregular, forced, for protection, for economic reasons, or for any other reason. The Purpose of the IMBR Initiative is to advocate for the protection of migrants' human rights by promoting the understanding and implementation of the International Migrants Bill of Rights. The Goal of IMBR Initiative is to pursue this vision and purpose through work at the international, regional and country levels with a three-pillar approach:
Research country-level migration law and policy
Educate migrants, advocates and governments about laws protecting migrants' rights
Advocate to promote the IMBR in legal and policy fora
The Initiative pursues this work using tools developed
by an international network of students and scholars over the past six years in
consultation with migrants, civil society, policymakers and regional and
international organizations. The resulting products feature:
a Bill of Rights, which articulates the rights protecting all migrants and distinguishes between existing international law and progressive developments in law and practice
the Principles on which the IMBR's human rights are founded
legal Commentaries that corroborate the enumerated rights and principles
a Handbook to guide the promotion and implementation of the IMBR
a set of Indicators for researchers to benchmark legal protections in countries
More information about the IMBR Initiative can be found here.
