INTRODUCTION

While the previous chapter proposed a general conceptualisation of State obligations towards people on the move under international human rights law, this chapter examines the specific obligations of partner States to realise the socio-economic rights of people on the move in the context of cooperative migration control. Section 2 first outlines the scope of partner States’ obligations towards people on the move. It does so by examining the role played by the availability of resources and the requirement that rights be progressively realised. In particular, it discusses the obligation to take steps and the extent to which retrogressive measures and limitations of the rights of people on the move are permitted. Section 3, in turn, discusses partner States’ obligations with regard to the following rights: the right to an adequate standard of living, health, education, work and social security. Finally, Section 4 off ers some concluding thoughts on partner States’ obligations towards people on the move.

As the overview in Chapter II revealed that in many situations the core socioeconomic rights of people on the move affected by cooperative migration control are not realised, the analysis focuses specifically on their core socio-economic rights and partner States’ corresponding core obligations. Moreover, it is easier to identify whether the core content of a right is realised in a specific case than whether a State acted with due diligence in light of its available resources and took adequate steps to progressively realise a right. However, as shown in Chapter III, this does not mean that partner States do not have obligations to realise the socio-economic rights of people on the move beyond the core. As it focuses on core socio-economic rights, the analysis takes the ICESCR as its starting point. It compares partner States’ obligations towards people on the move under the ICESCR and other relevant instruments, notably the CRC and ICRMW, to illustrate what minimum obligations States have towards people on the move under international human rights law. Where relevant, the analysis points to State obligations under the Refugee Convention, as this instrument applies to those people on the move who are refugees.