[Book review] Migration and human rights : the United Nations Convention on Migrant Workers’ Rights

Abstract

When a book’s subject matter is the ‘UN’s best kept secret’, expectations are bound to run high and this volume does not disappoint. It is a persuasive work, not least because of its skilful avoidance of repetition, but also due to its great scholarship and the wide range of its contributors’ professional backgrounds. It is impossible to do justice here to the book’s numerous contributors, thanks to whom the book manages to be comprehensive without becoming tedious or less than readable. More significantly, the book fills an important gap in the human rights migration literature since there has been scant academic and policy interest in the International Convention on Migrant Workers’ Rights (ICMWR). Moreover, what makes the book unique and engaging is the underlying fervour that runs through the chapters and brings the authors together in indignation at the incapability or unwillingness of states to address the human rights of migrant workers in the twenty-first century.