Switzerland - IOM Deputy Director General Laura Thompson will this morning take part in a high level panel discussion at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the protection and promotion of the human rights of migrants.

The panel, which will also include senior representatives of ILO, UNHCR, UNICEF and UNODC, will exchange views on best practices and challenges in protecting and promoting the human rights of all migrants, including irregular migrants, through the identification of effective monitoring and protection mechanisms at international, regional and national levels.

Other keynote speakers at the event, which will be chaired by Human Rights Council President Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong Ella, will include UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson (by video link), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, Italian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Benedetto della Vedova, and UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants Francois Crépeau. 

The panel will also discuss how the human rights of migrants can be integrated into the post-2015 development agenda and will follow up on the outcomes of the second High-level Dialogue on Migration and Development held in New York in October 2013.

To download a pdf copy of Ambassador Thompson’s high level panel presentation please go to: http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/news-and-views/speeches/speech-listing/remarks-human-rights-council-hig.html

The event will take place on Tuesday 4th March 2014, at 9:00 am -12:00 am, in Room XX, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.