FIDH, meeting for its 40th Congress, expresses its concern for the situation of the migrant population in various parts of the American continent.
Recognising that in recent years, internal conflicts, wars, the breakdown of democratic institutions and serious economic crises, amongst other causes, have generated large movements of people creating a humanitarian crisis along the routes they take and in the host areas, given the significant need for national, international and humanitarian protection of this population.
Concerned by the situation of migrants in the United States of America, Mexico and Central America especially given recent policies and measures adopted by the States on migration and asylum, militarisation and externalisation of borders; and recalling that since September 2018 five migrant children from Guatemala and one from El Salvador have died whilst in the custody of the United States.
Concerned that a year since the beginning of the political and social crisis in Nicaragua, around 62,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries, the vast majority of whom (some 55,000) have sought refuge in Costa Rica according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Alarmed for the four million Venezuelans who left their country since 2015 due to their country’s serious economic and social crisis according to UNHCR, and the majority of whom are in neighbouring countries.
Recalling that states have an international obligation to adopt measures to protect human dignity and the rights of migrants who are at risk in the route areas and host countries where often they are confronted by prejudice, hostility, lack of protection, xenophobia, and serious violence including people trafficking as well as labour and sexual exploitation.
Often social actors such as businesses take advantage of such migratory movements to lower labour standards creating and compounding hostility driven by xenophobia.
Reasserting as human rights defenders that human dignity and solidarity have neither borders nor nationality
FIDH in its 40th Congress meeting in Taipei agreed:
To demand that states adopt care, regularisation and protection policies for the migrant population with a human rights focus, that take into account the most vulnerable sections of the population namely women, LGBTI people, ethnic communities, children, the elderly and disabled people.
To demand that states adopt channels for long-term migratory regularisation that respect the basic principles of non-refoulement, access to rights under equal and non-discriminatory conditions; and that they also adopt measures to prevent arbitrary and collective expulsion.
Urge the international organizations for the protection of regional and universal human rights to deploy efforts to tackle the humanitarian emergency with due monitoring and vigilance.