HUMAN MOBILITY

Throughout its 25-year history, CEJIL has worked to establish fundamental rights in the Inter-American System for issues like asylum, migration, forced internal migration, statelessness and the protection of the rights of people living at the interstices of all situations that involve human mobility.

It is worth noting that, in the early 90’s, the work of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) regarding asylum, migration, forced internal migration, access to nationality and the eradication of statelessness was very limited and focused mainly on the United States and Canada.

Back then, part of the human rights community entrusted the work on these issues to specialized agencies such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As a result, due to the lack of cases and resources, the Inter-American Court did not play a major role on this issue.

However, since its first years, CEJIL has worked along with grassroots organizations —some of them located along the US-Mexico and Mexico-Guatemala border— and dealt with cases having to do with people who´s rights were violated because of their migratory status, forced displacement or asylum seeking status.

In the mid 90’s, we started working on the issue of displacement. Some of the cases had to do with the context of aggression faced by human rights defenders and civilians in situations of conflict. That is how, for the first time, the right to not being displaced was mentioned.

At that time, Arthur Helton -one of the leading figures of refugees rights in the United States- gave us the chance to work in the Bahamas documenting the claims of asylum seekers of the Carmichael Road Detention Center. Because of this work, we developed the rights and guarantees of asylum seekers. Since then, CEJIL has underscored the need for establishing systems of shared responsibility among countries in the Americas with regards to refugees.

At the end of the 90’s, as a result of the consolidation and expansion of paramilitaries in Colombia and the forced displacement of people along the borders of Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, we strengthened ties with some of the organizations working directly within these regions, including the Borders Program of the Project Counseling Service (PCS), the Jesuit Refugee Service -both in Ecuador and Venezuela-, as well as some vicars and asylum seekers.

In turn, we worked in guaranteeing basic rights for refugees, migrants, and stateless people, as well as access to education in countries like Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

The Inter-American System widened the standards of protection in matters of human mobility through various advisory opinions, issued by the Inter-American Court, about the right to have consular assistance and protect the rights of migrant children.

In 2013, CEJIL accompanied -in a public hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)- a coalition formed by different parts related to the issue of human mobility, to ask the United States to fulfill its international obligations through a comprehensive immigration reform.

The following year, CEJIL ⎯along with lawyers, activists and other members of civil society⎯ proposed recommendations before the IACHR to the United States Government on the humanitarian crisis that unaccompanied migrant children face when they reach the southern border. That was the first hearing in the IACHR about migrant children.

In addition, at a regional level, CEJIL participated in the coalition talks regarding the Cartagena +30 process that led to the Brazilian Action Plan, creating alliances with other organizations and participating in decisions that boost progress of policies on different aspects of the human mobility on the continent, as well as the issue of statelessness.

During 25 years of history, CEJIL has stood firm against repressive policies that affect people in the countries across the region, who have been forced to migrate, forcibly move or seek asylum, and has worked to guarantee their rights.

In 2002, CEJIL made public a protest against an official of the Panamanian Ministry of Migration, due to discriminatory declarations against migrants, and in 2010 condemned a new law approved in Arizona that violated the fundamental rights of US citizens and migrants.

More recently, CEJIL commented against the immigration policies announced in the United States, as they were contrary to the obligations of the State under international law, and also denounced the Government of Argentina before the IACHR after a change of the Law on Migrations, in February of 2017.

CEJIL continue to help people who have been stripped of their rights due to the implementation of regressive policies, the lack of state will to guarantee them or the lack of effective implementation of regional measures agreed between the States of the Americas.