Determinantes de la vulnerabilidad de los migrantes

persons who are unable effectively to enjoy their human rights, are at increased risk of violations and abuse and who, accordingly, are entitled to call on a duty bearer’s heightened duty of care. 

a migrant … exposed to or with experience of violence, exploitation or abuse within a migration context and with limited capability to avoid, resist, cope or recover, as a result of the unique interaction of individual, household/family, community and structural characteristics and conditions.

Populations that are considered more likely to become vulnerable migrants include, but are not limited to:

• Unaccompanied migrant children;
• Indigenous migrants;
• Victims of violence and crimes during the migratory transit;
• Migrant women (especially pregnant women and survivors of gender-based violence);
• LGBTI migrants;
• Migrant victims of smuggling and abuse;
• Persons with international protection needs (such as refugees and asylum seekers);
• Victims of trafficking (trafficked persons);
• Persons living with disabilities;
• Older persons;
• Members of ethnic and religious minorities;
• People who face a range of life-threatening situations in their home countries, such as communal, electoral, gang, cartel and terrorist violence; nuclear accidents; epidemics and pandemics; or disasters.

Example 1: Individual risk and protective factors

A middle-aged man with a high level of education, enjoying good health and belonging to a powerful segment of society would typically have a low level of vulnerability. However, he could find himself vulnerable to extortion and violence if he were to engage in unsafe migration practices, such as hiring migrant smugglers to help him gain access to a country through irregular means, particularly if he were to travel with the smugglers through countries with no mechanisms to protect smuggled migrants from violence.

Example 2: Family risk and protective factors

A family that experiences a crisis such as the primary wage earner’s loss of employment due to a health emergency might make migration decisions that heighten the vulnerability of one or more family members to labour exploitation. However, it would be less likely to make such decisions if it could turn for support to extended family members, community members, or social welfare programmes. The household/family risk factors would be mitigated by protective factors at the community level.

Example 3: Community risk and protective factors

Community risk factors could include practices such as child marriage, the exclusion of some community members from the full benefit of community resources, or risk of natural disasters. Protective community factors could include a good education system accessible to all, sufficient access to quality health care, a functioning social welfare system, or adequate preparedness measures to mitigate risks from natural hazards.

Example 4: Structural risk and protective factors

At the structural level, risk factors include patterns of systemic marginalization and discrimination, conflict and instability, poor governance, lack of accountability mechanisms and weak rule of law. Protective factors include peace and security, good governance, respect for human rights and equitable development.

For example, the availability of qualified health-care practitioners and sufficiently equipped health-care facilities can be a structural vulnerability factor. Some vulnerable migrants may not have had access to a health-care system or there might have been limitations on what that system could provide due to lack of funding and investment. The existing health-care system may not offer services appropriate or accessible to migrants, or may not be able to address unique health-care concerns that migrants may have.

• Support and improve the capacity of immigration, consular and police officers to identify vulnerable migrants.
• Cooperate with non-governmental organizations and international organizations that do the bulk of the identification, as they have specific programmes for vulnerable migrants or identify vulnerable migrants through their work with other vulnerable individuals.
• Organize community-based identification through committees created for the purpose of identifying migrants vulnerable to violence, exploitation, or abuse.
• Set up guidelines for the private sector to promote the identification of exploitative practices in their operations or supply chains, especially in high-risk sectors such as agriculture and fishing, construction, or manufacturing.

• Create referral pathways between different systems, including both protection and assistance services, to link individuals with protection-related services and support.
• Prioritize referral mechanisms that allow for the highest level of protection.
• Use referral pathways to offer assistance alongside protection. This may include shelter and accommodation, water, sanitation, and hygiene, food and nutrition, safety and security, health care, education and training, and livelihood, employment and income generation (for more information on referral pathways, see Case management for migrant protection and assistance, elsewhere in this chapter).
• Where possible, ensure that referral pathways exist in relation to national referral mechanisms that provide protection and assistance to children and families in vulnerable situations, survivors of gender-based violence, refugees and asylum seekers, and victims of trafficking.
• Prioritize existing pathways, where possible

• IOM, IOM Handbook on Protection and Assistance for Migrants Vulnerable to Violence, Exploitation, and Abuse, 2019.

The Determinants of Migrant Vulnerability Model can be applied before, during or after migration.

Before migration

• Encourage safe and informed migration, and prevent violence, exploitation, or abuse against individual migrants or groups of migrants. This involves examining factors at individual, household/family, community and structural levels to identify motivations, risk factors and protective factors.

During migration

• Identify vulnerable migrants to enable measures to prevent harm, and to develop appropriate protection and assistance responses.

After migration

• Identify vulnerable migrants to prevent harm and to develop appropriate protection and assistance plans. These plans should aim to support longer-term sustainable resolutions. If used in returns, they should address vulnerabilities and promote sustainable reintegration.
• Ensure that the State is meeting its responsibility to ensure that the protections outlined in international law are afforded to all people, including migrants.

• IOM, The IOM Handbook on Direct Assistance for Victims of Trafficking, 2007. Summarizes and systematizes the experience of IOM based on over ten years of anti-trafficking programming.
• United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Global Migration Working Group on Migration, Human Rights and Gender (GMG), Principles and guidelines, supported by practical guidance, on the human rights protection of migrants in vulnerable situations, 2017. This document contains examples of good and promising practices for protecting migrants’ human rights in vulnerable situations.

• Ensure that the comprehensive response includes joint programming at individual, household/family, community and structural levels.
• At the community level, implement campaigns to sensitize the receiving community with regard to the rights of migrants, aiming to change attitudes and behaviours. Community leaders could be engaged to promote social cohesion and to ensure that migrants have access to the services to which they are entitled.
•  At the structural level, ensure that efforts to address corruption, and to uphold the rights of the migrants, are undertaken, if needed. Structural interventions to improve political, economic, and security conditions in the country of origin could contribute to the spontaneous return of migrants to their countries of origin.

Case 1: Yasmina

An adult woman is sick with tuberculosis, but there is no treatment available in her town. Eventually she becomes unable to work. Her partner is able to work, but there are limited employment opportunities in town. As the sick woman was the primary income earner for her family, she is considering sending her eldest son, who is 16 years old, abroad for work. Neither of them wants him to have to migrate for work he is a talented student, and they want him to finish his schooling. Also, the places where he could find work are known to mistreat migrant workers, and they want their family to stay intact.

• A comprehensive response to this case would involve programming at the individual, household/family, and community level. At the individual level, the woman requires medical treatment, to enable her to return to work. At the household/family level, income support or income generation alternatives are needed, so that the son can stay in education rather than migrate alone. At the community level, programming to improve the availability of medical services and employment opportunities would improve this family’s circumstances and resilience.

Case 2: Pascal

A middle-aged man attempts to move to a different county, but his visa application is denied. He decides to pay smugglers to get him there. He leaves with the smugglers, who are taking him overland, which requires travelling through several other countries. One of the countries is experiencing a political crisis and violence has broken out. The man does not speak the local language, and does not feel safe on his own. His smugglers take advantage of the situation and lock him up, beat him, and threaten to turn him over to authorities if he does not get his family and friends to send money. He is discovered by a cleaner who calls law enforcement. He is put in immigration detention.

• A comprehensive response would involve programming at individual and structural levels. Individual-level programming could include legal assistance to help him to exit detention. Structural-level programming in his home country could include law enforcement action against the smuggling of migrants. It could also include the development of laws and policies in the country in which he was detained to protect migrants subject to violence by smugglers.

• IOM, Guidance on response planning for migrants vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse, 2019. Many services, such as education and health care, are organized and provided by governments at either the local, regional or national level. Governments can refer to these guidelines for information on how to plan and budget for responses to migrant vulnerability to violence, exploitation and abuse.