Rights of migrants

Thailand has championed migrants’ health protection for years by offering a prepaid, premium-based health insurance scheme. Undocumented migrants can buy the insurance under the condition of registering with the government.

Thailand achieved universal health coverage, through three main insurance schemes: 1) the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for ordinary Thai nationals, 2) the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme (CSMBS) for Thai civil servants, and 3) the Social Security Scheme (SSS) for workers in the formal private sector.

Numerous public services have adjusted to provide universal access or extend social protection coverage to an increasingly diverse population through bilateral and multilateral social security agreements or unilateral measures.

One mechanism for extending social protection and paving the way for universal coverage is the establishment of social protection floors – nationally defined sets of basic social security guarantees that ensure at a minimum, that over a lifetime, all those in need have access to essential health care and to basic income security.

The Migrant and Refugee Orientation Centre is a place both to meet and to receive support, aimed at all groups and communities that make up the multicultural society of the City of Buenos Aires. It seeks to centralize activities of State bodies and civil organizations and promote initiatives, meeting the needs and demands of migrants and refugees. Its activities are divided into 3 main areas: 1) Guidance and support; 2) Job training; and 3) Sport and recreation.

Uruguay has introduced specific measures to minimize administrative irregularity linked with international human mobility and is pursuing legal framework revisions to promote migrants’ rights, bilateral and multilateral social security agreements, visa waiver agreements, and various measures in line with civil society recommendations.

The most significant examples of regularization and access to residence and identity documents are the following:

The city of Atlanta in the USA has undertaken to provide free transportation to refugees for their legal and medical appointments.

In Atlanta, as well as some other cities in the USA, private company Lyft has also offered transportation grants to a number of immigrant and refugee organisations as part of its Lyft Relief Rides Program. 

Several civil society organisations in Atlanta also provide similar services to certain immigrants (e.g. refugee children). 

Costa Rica has designed a comprehensive National Integration Plan (2018–22) in 2017 that promotes equal opportunities and respect for human rights to improve inclusive social, economic and cultural spaces.

‘Cuidamos Centro’ (‘We Take Care of the Centro District’) is an employment training and practice programme that targets groups at risk of exclusion and long term unemployment in Madrid. The programme is coordinated by the Madrid Municipal Employment Agency and District Board. The initiative provides training and paid employment opportunities for those deemed most excluded from the city’s labour market. Whilst it does not exclusively target foreign-born migrants, the latter group are over-represented among the project’s participants (also known as dynamizers).

The Anti Rumor Strategy (ARS) is a long-term process of social change that proposes to explore and influence the causes of xenophobia, taking into account specific socio-cultural contexts. Its purpose is to prevent discrimination, improve coexistence, and harness the potential of diversity by triggering a change in perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors among the general population and specific target groups. The ARS was first promoted in 2010 in Barcelona with a current presence in six Spanish cities and 12 in Europe.

Established in 2006, the NGO Committee on Migration is a committee of non-governmental organisations, which has consultative status with the ECOSOC. The Committee brings together over 50 NGOs who seek to realize justice for migrants, refugees, stateless persons, internally displaced persons, and trafficked persons. 

UNICEF's 'Children Uprooted' campaign is a broad communications campaign focusing on refugee and migrant children. As part of this campaign, UNICEF has urged governments and partners to realize a Six-Point Agenda For Action to: