Pathways to Migrant Protection: A Mapping of National Practice for Admission and Stay on Human Rights and Humanitarian Grounds in Asia and the Pacific

OHCHR Regional Office for South-East Asia

Fulfilling the commitment to expanding and diversifying pathways for safe, orderly and regular migration is critical for preventing and addressing vulnerabilities throughout the migration journey” – UN Secretary-General

The Asia Pacific region hosts and is home to a significant proportion of the world’s international migrants. According to official data, in 2020 roughly one in three of the 282 million international migrants in the world originally came from the region and one in seven are living in the region. Of considerable importance for the subject of this study, to these numbers must be added a sizeable but usually uncounted population of migrants in irregular status.

The UN Human Rights Office has recently published a study entitled “Pathways to Migrant Protection: A Mapping of National Practice for Admission and Stay on Human Rights and Humanitarian Grounds in Asia and the Pacific.” This report is a non-exhaustive review of national practices for admission and stay in 17 selected Asia Pacific countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu).