Georgetown Law Releases International Migrants Bill of Rights

December 17, 2012 —

A group of students, alumni and scholars from Georgetown University Law Center has released the International Migrants Bill of Rights (IMBR), a first-of-its-kind universal declaration of human rights for all categories of international migrants. The timing of the release coincides with International Migrants Day, Tuesday, December 18.

Currently, there is no single, legal framework that calls for the protection of international migrants. The IMBR has responded to this gap by calling for improved conditions for international migrants through recognition and advancement of their basic human rights. It restates and reaffirms the core human rights derived from existing United Nations treaties. 

"Migrants, regardless of immigration status and motive for migration, are individuals with basic human rights. All too often, countries that have committed to upholding human rights violate the rights of migrants on a vast scale. The IMBR seeks to protect migrants from the egregious human rights violations that are occurring all around the world," said Bianca Santos, program director of the IMBR Initiative and a 2011 Georgetown Law graduate.

The IMBR Initiative started in 2007 as a student-led project through Georgetown Law's Global Law Scholars Program. It has evolved over the past five years through the collaborative effort of students and scholars from Georgetown Law, the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies at American University in Cairo, the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Migration Studies Unit at the London School of Economics. The Initiative is housed at Georgetown Law and the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of International Migration. 

More information about the International Migrants Bill of Rights is available here: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/isim/imbr/

The text of the International Migrants Bill of Rights is available here: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/isim/imbr/upload/International-Migrants-Bill-of-Rights-IMBR-Text.pdf