US migration plan threatens to undermine fundamental human rights, UN warns

“The right to seek refuge is a human right, regardless of people’s origins, their immigration status, or how they arrived at the border,” Türk said in a statement.

The senior official highlighted that the plan goes “against the prohibition of collective expulsions and the principle of non-refoulement”.

As part of new migration plan, Biden will allow the monthly entry of up to 30 thousand people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as long as they have a sponsor in the country and arrive by plane so as not to overload the agents patrolling the border.

To fit into the new program, candidates must refrain from crossing country borders. United States, from Mexico, or Panama, from today onwards, “stay where you are” and request entry from these points. Applicants will also have their criminal records analyzed, they will need to have a sponsor in United States, in addition to being vaccinated.

The economy of United States is highly dependent on foreign labor. An important campaign for Biden upon arriving at the White House was to offer refuge to those who requested asylum in the country, putting an end to his predecessor Donald Trump's strict policies against irregular immigration.

Many migrants seeking to escape poverty or violence in their home countries take a dangerous route to reach the United States.

In the current fiscal year, more than 800 people drowned in the Rio Grande, which marks the border between the United States and Mexico, according to border authorities cited by American public radio NPR. In November, the arrests of migrants on the border between the two countries they reached a record number of 230 thousand people.

In America or Europe: migrants at risk in their search for refuge

In Europe, a new refugee crisis intensifies amid diplomatic and political tensions. Between the United States and Mexico, an old problem that costs lives. By the end of 2021, 89,3 million people around the world had been forced to leave their homes due to war, violence, fear of persecution and human rights violations, according to the United Nations. The number is more than double the number of citizens who remained displaced by World War II until the last decade.

So far, Biden remained discreet in the face of criticism from the opposition and human rights.

O international principle of non-refoulement guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they may suffer torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

(To AFP)

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