50th Session of the Human Rights Council

Item 3 :  Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur for migrant human rights

24 Junio 2022

Presented by: Elida Beatriz Calixto Toxqui

Thank you, Mr. President,

We appreciate the report and we share your concern about the magnitude of human rights violations that continue to be committed by the border control.

The participation and support of the armed forces in migration control is an increasingly widespread practice in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil. Likewise, the number of  forced returns and mass expulsions has increased in the Americas. The United States has expelled around 25,000 Haitians out of a total of 1.9 million people expelled under Title 42. Chile and Colombia have legalized these practices by including new grounds for expulsion in their policies and legislation.

Immigration detention is no longer an exception in the Americas. In Mexico, it increased by 90% in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same period of the previous year, including a record figure of 11,000 children and adolescents. In Panama, 130,000 migrants were detained in 2021.

Human rights defenders and shelters have experienced an increase in acts of harassment, surveillance, defamation, and attacks by state and non-state actors for their work with the migrant population.

In this context, we urge states to put an end to the militarization and use of armed forces in immigration control, to respect the principle of non-refoulement, and to suspend any measure that could put the life and integrity of migrants and asylum applicants at risk.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Source: Franciscans International