The rights of non-citizens
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Rights of Non-citizens |
| Date of publication: | | 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | Introduction: "All persons should, by virtue of their essential humanity, enjoy all human rights. Exceptional distinctions, for example between citizens and non-citizens, can be made only if they serve a legitimate State objective and are proportional to the achievement of that objective.
Citizens are persons who have been recognized by a State as having an effective link with it. International law generally leaves to each State the authority to determine who qualifies as a citizen. Citizenship can ordinarily be acquired by being born in the country (known as jus soli or the law of the place), being born to a parent who is a citizen of the country (known as jus sanguinis or the law of blood), naturalization or a combination of these approaches.
A non-citizen is a person who has not been recognized as having these effective links to the country where he or she is located. There are different groups of non-citizens, including permanent residents, migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, victims of trafficking, foreign students, temporary visitors, other kinds of non-immigrants and stateless people. While each of these groups may have rights based on separate legal regimes, the problems faced by most, if not all, non-citizens are very similar. These common concerns affect approximately 175 million individuals worldwide—or 3 per cent of the world’s population.
Non-citizens should have freedom from arbitrary killing, inhuman treatment, slavery, arbitrary arrest, unfair trial, invasions of privacy, refoulement, forced labour, child labour and violations of humanitarian law. They also have the right to marry; protection as minors; peaceful association and assembly; equality; freedom of religion and belief; social, cultural and economic rights; labour rights (for example, as to collective bargaining, workers’ compensation, healthy and safe working conditions); and consular protection. While all human beings are entitled to equality in dignity and rights, States may narrowly draw distinctions between citizens and non-citizens with respect to political rights explicitly guaranteed to citizens and freedom of movement.
For non-citizens, there is, nevertheless, a large gap between the rights that international human rights law guarantees to them and the realities that they face. In many countries, there are institutional and pervasive problems confronting non-citizens. Nearly all categories of non-citizens face official and non-official discrimination. While in some countries there may be legal guarantees of equal treatment and recognition of the importance of non-citizens in achieving economic prosperity, non-citizens face hostile social and practical realities. They experience xenophobia, racism and sexism; language barriers and unfamiliar customs; lack of political representation; difficulty realizing their economic, social and cultural rights—particularly the right to work, the right to education and the right to health care; difficulty obtaining identity documents; and lack of means to
challenge violations of their human rights effectively or to have them remedied. Some non-citizens are subjected to arbitrary and often indefinite detention. They may have been traumatized by experiences of persecution or abuse in their countries of origin, but are detained side by side with criminals in prisons, which are frequently overcrowded, unhygienic and dangerous. In addition, detained non-citizens may be denied contact with their families, access to legal assistance and the opportunity to challenge their detention. Official hostility—often expressed in national legislation—has been especially flagrant during periods of war, racial animosity and high unemployment. For example, the situation has worsened since 11 September 2001, as some Governments have detained non-citizens in response to fears of terrorism. The narrow exceptions to the principle of non-discrimination that are permitted by international human rights law do not justify such pervasive violations of non-citizens’ rights.
The principal objective of this publication is to highlight all the diverse sources of international law and emerging international standards protecting the rights of non-citizens, especially:
The relevant provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and other human rights treaties;
The general comments, country conclusions and adjudications by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and other treaty bodies;
The reports of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights thematic procedures on the human rights of migrants and racism;
The relevant work of such other global institutions as the International Labour Organization and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and
The reports of regional institutions, such as the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | United Nations |
| Format/size: | | pdf (636K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 25 August 2012 |
|
| Title: | | The rights of non-citizens: Final report - Addendum 1, "United Nations activities" |
| Date of publication: | | 26 May 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | Final report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. David Weissbrodt,
submitted in accordance with Sub-Commission decision 2000/103,
Commission resolution 2000/104 and Economic and Social Council
decision 2000/283
Addendum
United Nations activities*..."This addendum (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23/Add.1) to the final report of the Special
Rapporteur on the rights of non-citizens (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23) supplements the 2002
addendum (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/25/Add.1) to the progress report of the Special Rapporteur
(E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/25) and the 2001 addendum (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/20/Add.1) to the
preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/20) by providing updated
jurisprudence and concluding observations with respect to the rights of non-citizens. This
addendum also includes a new section on the relevant jurisprudence of the Committee Against
Torture. The jurisprudence and concluding observations in this addendum cover
treaty-monitoring body sessions from March 2002 through March 2003..." |
| Author/creator: | | David Weissbrodt |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | United Nations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23/Add.1) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (87K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 24 August 2012 |
|
| Title: | | The rights of non-citizens: Final report - Addendum 2 - "Regional activities" |
| Date of publication: | | 26 May 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | Final report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. David Weissbrodt,
submitted in accordance with Sub-Commission decision 2000/103,
Commission resolution 2000/104 and Economic and Social
Council decision 2000/283
Addendum
Regional activities..."This addendum (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23/Add.2) to the final report of the Special
Rapporteur on the rights of non-citizens (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23) supplements the
2002 addendum (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/25/Add.2) to the progress report of the Special Rapporteur
(E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/25) and the 2001 addendum (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/20/Add.1) to the
preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/20) by updating the expanded
examination of the rights of non-citizens within regional human rights bodies. The addendum
updates the jurisprudence of those regional bodies that have adopted recent decisions related to
the rights of non-citizens, including the European Court of Human Rights and the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. It also contains a new section on the European
Social Committee. Finally, it again discusses the Framework Convention on National
Minorities, adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe, and include recent decision
based on that instrument..." |
| Author/creator: | | David Weissbrodt |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | United Nations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23/Add.2) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (88K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 24 August 2012 |
|
| Title: | | The rights of non-citizens: Final report - Addendum 3, "Examples of practices in regard to non-citizens" |
| Date of publication: | | 26 May 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | The rights of non-citizens
Final report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. David Weissbrodt,
submitted in accordance with Sub-Commission decision 2000/103,
Commission resolution 2000/104 and Economic and Social
Council decision 2000/283
Addendum
Examples of practices in regard to non-citizens..."While the main report (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23) summarizes the norms that protect the
rights of non-citizens, in many countries non-citizens do not actually enjoy those rights. One of
the most common problems human rights treaty bodies have encountered in reviewing States'
reports is that some national constitutions guarantee rights to "citizens" whereas international
human rights law would â“ with the exception of the rights of public participation, of movement,4
and of economic rights in developing countries5 â“ provide rights to all persons.6 Of the countries
responding to the questionnaire, however, most countries extended constitutionally protected
human rights to every person7 or specifically to non-citizens.8 Other countries protect the rights
of non-citizens, including refugees, by statute9 or by incorporating treaties into national law.10
Constitutions in some countries, however, inappropriately distinguish between the rights granted
to persons who obtained their citizenship by birth and other citizens.11 Furthermore, the mere
statement of the general principle of non-discrimination in a constitution is not a sufficient
response to the requirements of human rights law..." |
| Author/creator: | | David Weissbrodt, |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | United Nations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23/Add.3) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (88K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 24 August 2012 |
|
| Title: | | The rights of non-citizens: Final report - Addendum 4, "Summary of Comments Received from U.N. Member States to Special Rapporteur's Questionnaire" |
| Date of publication: | | 26 May 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | Final report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. David Weissbrodt,
submitted in accordance with Sub-Commission decision 2000/103,
Commission resolution 2000/104 and Economic and Social Council
decision 2000/283
Addendum
Summary of Comments Received from U.N. Member States to
Special Rapporteur's Questionnaire..."This Addendum IV summarizes1 the comments received from 22 Member States in
response to the questionnaire prepared by the Special Rapporteur and disseminated pursuant to
Commission decision 2002/107 of 25 April 2002. For reasons of expense and length it was not
possible to reproduce the full text of the responses received from all Member States. Hence,
this summary was prepared to express particular appreciation for the quite substantial number
of responses received and to give others a sense of the substance contained in the replies.
The Special Rapporteur also received responses from 7 intergovernmental organizations
and 4 nongovernmental organizations, plus the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of migrants.2 The
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of non-citizens took into account all of the responses in
preparing the final report and other addenda and is extremely grateful for all the assistance
afforded in those responses..." Includes replies from Thailand and India. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | United Nations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23/Add.4) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (101K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 25 May 2005 |
|
| Title: | | The rights of non-citizens: Final report |
| Date of publication: | | 23 May 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | Final report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. David Weissbrodt,
submitted in accordance with Sub-Commission decision 2000/103,
Commission resolution 2000/104 and Economic and Social
Council decision 2000/283..."Based on a review of international human rights law, the Special Rapporteur has
concluded that all persons should by virtue of their essential humanity enjoy all human rights
unless exceptional distinctions, for example, between citizens and non-citizens, serve a
legitimate State objective and are proportional to the achievement of that objective. For
example, non-citizens should enjoy freedom from arbitrary killing, inhuman treatment slavery,
forced labour, child labour, arbitrary arrest, unfair trial, invasions of privacy, refoulement and
violations of humanitarian law. They also have the right to marry, protection as minors, peaceful
association and assembly, equality, freedom of religion and belief, social, cultural, and economic
rights in general, labour rights (for example, as to collective bargaining, workersâ�⢠compensation,
social security, appropriate working conditions and environment, etc.) and consular protection..." |
| Author/creator: | | David Weissbrodt |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | United Nations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/23) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (83K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 24 August 2012 |
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