Request for Comprehensive In Loco Visit to the US and Mexico

Jul 29, 2019

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The US Human Rights Network signed on to this important letter to representatives at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights requesting them to visit the US-Mexico border to consider human rights violations against migrants. Please find an excerpt from the letter below, and read the full letter here.

July 23, 2019

Rapporteur for Mexico and Guatemala and Rapporteur on the Rights of Children

Paulo Abrão Executive Secretary

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 1889 F St., NW
Washington, DC

RE: REQUEST FOR COMPREHENSIVE IN LOCO VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO TO CONSIDER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IMPACTING MIGRANTS AND REQUEST FOR ONGOING ROBUST MONITORING OF THE REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION RELATING TO MIGRANTS

Dear Honorable President of the Commission, Honorable Commissioners and Executive Secretary of the Commission:

The below-named organizations and individuals write to respectfully request urgent action by 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. Specifically, 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.