BVMN Strategic Advisory Board member participates in the UN Session on eradicating xenophobia towards migrants.

On 5 December 2025, Anjila Areezo, a member of the Global Strategic Advisory Board on Gender and Migration, participated in the public launch event of Joint General Recommendations No. 38 and No. 39 of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers.

The high-level event at the United Nations in Geneva launched two general comments and recommendations, providing States with authoritative guidance for identifying, preventing, and addressing xenophobia and related forms of discrimination affecting migrants and those perceived as such.

The Border Violence Monitoring Network is pleased to have worked closely with both committees, participating in several rounds of consultations, providing textual recommendations to help shape the final text of the general comments, and being invited to participate in and speak at the launch event.

You can watch part of Anjila's intervention below. The full intervention can be found at the 1:35:00 mark at this link. The transcript of Anjila's full intervention is found below.

My name is Anjila Areezo, and I have the honor of addressing you today in my capacity as a member of the Border Violence Monitoring Network Advisory Board on Gender and Migration. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to join this important public launch of the CERD–CMW joint general recommendations No. 38 and No. 39, and general comments No. 7 and No. 8, on ending xenophobia towards migrants and all those perceived as such.

As an organisation working directly with people on the move and documenting human rights violations at borders, we welcome these recommendations as a significant and timely advancement. They reflect a clear acknowledgment that xenophobia is not merely an attitude but a structural driver of discrimination, violence and exclusion that deeply affects migrants and their families.

Through our monitoring work, our member organisations regularly receive testimonies that illustrate how xenophobia appears in practice: pushbacks, targeting people based on their appearance, degrading treatment, gender-based violence, and barriers to justice. These recommendations rightly underline the connection between xenophobia, racism and migration governance, and provide authoritative guidance for States to address these systemic harms.

Allow me to briefly highlight three essential points:

First, the importance of responsible and human-rights-based public narratives. Countering harmful language and negative visualization of migrants is essential to preventing discrimination.

Second, the confirmation that borders must never become spaces where rights are suspended. Ending pushbacks and collective expulsions, and ensuring access to justice and protection, are legal obligations that must be fully upheld.

Third, these recommendations correctly recognize that xenophobia involves multiple forms of discrimination. Its impacts are intensified for women, children, racialized communities, LGBTIQ+ persons, people with disabilities and others in vulnerable situations. Responses must therefore be inclusive, gender-responsive and grounded in equality and non-discrimination.

The Border Violence Monitoring Network remains committed to supporting the implementation of these recommendations, strengthening monitoring efforts, and cooperating with States, UN mechanisms and civil society partners to ensure that the rights and dignity of all migrants are respected in practice.