Open Letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Last week the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights joined more than 200 organizations and individuals with expertise in migration, refugee law, and human rights in signing a letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to address grave human rights violations impacting migrants in Mexico and the United States, including asylum seekers, children, and families. In the letter, we respectfully request that the Commission immediately conduct a comprehensive in loco visit to the United States and Mexico to consider actions and policies by both States that are having dramatic negative impacts on the human rights of migrants, particularly asylum-seeking Central Americans who transit through Mexico to reach the United States. We ask that the visit be followed by a report that considers the full extent of human rights violations experienced by migrants in Mexico and the United States. We further request that, after this visit, the Commission engage in ongoing, robust monitoring of the treatment of migrants in the region. This monitoring should include hearings before the Commission during its sessions, additional visits to the region—including the southern border of Mexico and Central America—, development of standards relating to the treatment of migrants (particularly in connection with new patterns in externalization of borders and proposals for “safe third country” agreements), and prompt consideration of precautionary measures requests and individual complaints.

Click here to read the letter.

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