The mandate of the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Migrants of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is focused on promoting respect and protection of the rights of migrants and their families, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, victims of human trafficking, internally displaced persons, as well as other vulnerable groups in the context of human mobility.
In 1996, in response to the serious situation faced by internally displaced persons (IDPs) and migrant workers and their families in several countries of the continent, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) decided to create the Rapporteurship on Internally Displaced Persons in the framework of its 91st Period of Sessions and the Rapporteurship on Migrant Workers and Their Families in its 92nd Extraordinary Period of Sessions. While creating these Rapporteurships helped the Commission to give greater attention to the human rights of migrants and their families as well as IDPs, the protection and promotion of the human rights of other groups of people in a situation of vulnerability in the context of human mobility has always been one of the main focuses of the IACHR's work since its origins. This focus is the result of the forced migration of hundreds of thousands of people who had to flee or leave their homes as a result of dictatorships and armed conflicts that occurred in the region throughout the twentieth century.
To fulfill its current mandate, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants performs the following functions:
- Raise awareness about the obligations of States to respect and ensure the human rights of migrants and their families, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, victims of human trafficking, internally displaced persons, and other vulnerable groups of people in the context of human mobility;
- Monitor the human rights situation of migrants and their families, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, victims of human trafficking, internally displaced persons, and other groups of people in the context of human mobility and make visible the violations of their rights;
- Provide consultancy and make recommendations on public policy to the Member States of OAS, as well as to political bodies of the OAS, related to the protection and promotion of human rights of migrants and their families, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, victims of human trafficking, internally displaced persons, and other vulnerable groups of people in the context of human mobility, so that measures are taken on these people´s behalf;
- Prepare reports and specialized studies with recommendations directed to Member States of the OAS for the protection and promotion of human rights of migrants and their families, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, victims of human trafficking, internally displaced persons and other vulnerable groups of people in the context of human mobility;
- Act promptly on petitions, cases, requests for precautionary measures and elevation for provisional measures before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights where it is alleged that the human rights of migrants and their families, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, victims of human trafficking, internally displaced persons, and other groups of people in the context of human mobility, are violated in any of the OAS member states.