December 18

The mission of December 18 is to promote and protect the rights of migrants worldwide, with dignity and respect as basic values. Our goal is to ensure that the human rights of all migrants are recognised and protected effectively, and that an environment is created for migrants to be full participants in any society.

We promote an approach to migration policies that is based on existing international and regional human rights instruments and mechanisms. We do this through the implementation of the following programs:

1) International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers: The programme promotes the ratification and effective implementation of the UN Migrant Workers Convention. We are part of several ratification campaign initiatives, including amongst others, the European Platform for Migrant Workers Rights for which we host the Secretariat, and the Steering Committee of the Global Campaign for the Ratification of the Migrant Workers Convention. We are also a founding member of the International NGO Platform on the Migrant Workers Convention.

2) International Migrant's Day (IMD): We promote 18th December as an opportunity to celebrate the contributions made by migrant workers and members of their families as well as highlight their plight. Specific areas on our December 18 website as well as the Radio 1812 site aim to give extra impetus to the activities of migrant groups around the world.

3) Information Sharing: Using several communication tools, December 18 is constantly connecting with a worldwide network of organizations and individuals. We maintain a multilingual website on migration issues creating an international platform for the aggregation and distribution of information produced primarily by civil society actors. Our electronic bulletin MIGRANT.NEWS is distributed in three languages among some 2000 migrant organizations, international agencies, intergovernmental organizations and individuals worldwide.

A number of private foundations, government agencies and international organisations have supported our work over recent years: Inter Pares, Oxfam-Novib, UNESCO, the Flemish Government, Nationale Loterij (Belgium), the Network of European Foundations for Innovative Cooperation (NEF), Atlantic Philanthropies and the King Baudouin Foundation.

To find out more, please go to: www.december18.net or contact info@december18.net.