JOINT STATEMENT: CSOs Across the Region Urge Leaders at NALS 2023 to Center Regional Migration Discussions on Human Rights, Humanitarian Protection & Asylum Access for those Fleeing Persecution

January 9, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, in light of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada convening at the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS) in Mexico City, the Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA) joined more than 90 civil society organizations from throughout the Americas in sending a letter to the administrations of President Biden, President López Obrador, and Prime Minister Trudeau urging them to center their discussions concerning regional migration on human rights, humanitarian protection, and access to asylum for individuals fleeing persecution. 

The letter calls upon the U.S., Mexico, and Canada to uphold commitments made in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection to promote humane migration management by ensuring access to asylum and respecting the principle of non-refoulement, creating and expanding supplementary human mobility pathways, supporting protection-sensitive entry systems, bolstering the financing and delivery of humanitarian assistance along the migratory route, countering xenophobia through anti-discrimination and anti-racism efforts, and supporting marginalized communities. The signatories of the letter maintain that meaningful and sustained consultation with civil society organizations across the region will be key to such implementation.

Ahead of the Summit, the organizations released the following letter: 

 President of the United States Joseph Biden       

President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador  

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau

cc 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken  

Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard 

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly  

Dear President Biden, President López Obrador, and Prime Minister Trudeau: 

We, the 94 undersigned organizations, are writing ahead of the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS) in Mexico City to urge your administrations to center human rights, humanitarian protection, and access to asylum for individuals fleeing persecution in your discussions regarding regional migration. The summit provides an opportune forum for the U.S., Mexico, and Canada to work together to fulfill the commitment made in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection to “protecting the safety and dignity of all migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons, regardless of their migratory status, and respecting their human rights and fundamental freedoms.’’ 

We urge your governments to:

• Adhere to existing domestic and international agreements by respecting the principle of non-refoulement and access to territory. Take all potential legal steps to ensure that access to asylum is restored and maintained at borders; that asylum systems are strengthened, and that individuals are not unlawfully pushed back, expelled under policies like Title 42, or banned from the opportunity to seek refuge. Asylum should be accessible to all individuals regardless of their nationality, race, legal status or mode of entry.

• Create and expand supplementary human mobility pathways to reduce life-threatening risks, gender-based violence and other human rights abuses. Any supplementary pathway—including new US parole programs– must be easily accessible for displaced individuals and should not be tied to policies restricting asylum access.

• Work with governments and subnational authorities along the migratory route to implement measures to support protection-sensitive entry systems that identify international protection needs and refer individuals into appropriate human mobility pathways. The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees' 10-Point Plan of Action provides a roadmap for such action. Furthermore, in the case of migrants and asylum seekers at sea, such as in the Caribbean Basin, governments must prioritize safeguarding lives by strengthening search and rescue operations; screening for protection needs; creating supplementary pathways for migrants and asylum seekers at sea, and preventing refoulement by allowing access to territory.

• Continue to expand the financing and delivery of humanitarian assistance along the migratory route, including programming to address sexual and gender-based violence against individuals in all their diversity and violence against children, with a particular focus on race and gender-sensitivity and language access for migrants.  

• Work with United Nations agencies to ensure that migrants and asylum seekers, including children, are not returned to unsafe situations or in violation of the principle of non-refoulement. 

• Counter xenophobia towards LGBTQI+, Black, Brown, and Indigenous migrants and asylum seekers, through anti-discrimination and anti-racism education and accountability efforts.

• Investigate and prosecute crimes against migrants, in particular sexual and gender based violence, and maintain statistics on crimes and prosecutions based on gender, race and nationality.

• Maintain statistics on deaths through criminal or noncriminal related causes, based on gender, race and nationality.

• Invest in interventions that support marginalized communities, including women, girls, and indigenous groups, to build their economic security and resilience to climate- and insecurity-related factors.

• Conduct meaningful and sustained consultation with civil society organizations, including migrant and refugee-led groups from across the region, in the implementation of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. Prioritize meeting with local service providers, indigenous communities, migrants, and asylum seekers to understand the on-the-ground realities during high-level trips to the region. 

• Provide support as necessary to local communities who receive and provide services to migrants, especially indigenous communities.

We appreciate your consideration and welcome the opportunity to further engage with your administrations.  

Sincerely,

ACCSS

Action Réfugiés Montréal

Al Otro Lado

Albergue Decanal Guadalupano

Albergue Tochan-Nuestra- Casa

Alianza Americas

Alianza Peruana de Cooperación

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Amnesty International Canada (English Speaking)

Apoyo a Migrantes Venezolanos

Asociación Pop No'j / Guatemala

Asylum Access Mexico (AAMX)

Bridges Faith Initiative

BUAP-CA-230 Cuerpo Académico Procesos Transnacionales y Migración

Caleidoscopio Humano

Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers

Canadian Council for Refugees

Cátedra de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado

Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA)

Center for Gender & Refugee Studies

Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)

Central American Resource Center —CARECEN SF

Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Católica Andrés Bello

Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos "Segundo Montes Mozo SJ" (CSMM)

Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America-CRLN

Citizens For Public Justice

Clínica Jurídica para Refugiados "Alaíde Foppa"

CODETMICH

Colectivo Ustedes Somos Nosotrxs

Comisión de Acción Social Meninita

Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH)

Comitė Ciudadano en Defensa de los Naturalizados y Afromexicanos (CCDNAM)

Comunidades de Fe Organizadas en Acción de Centro America

Corporación Red Somos

CPAL

CRECEN

El Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración

EMAÚS AMÉRICA

Encuentros Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes

Equipo de Proyectos y Asesoría Social-EDEPA

Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Faith in Action International

Fe y Alegría Panamá

Fundación Agua Sin Fronteras

Fundación Ecuatoriana Equidad

Fundación para la Justicia

Grupo de Trabajo Sobre Política Migratoria-GTPM: Aldeas Infantiles SOS México, I.A.P.; Alianza Américas; American Friends Services Committee; Asylum Access México (AAMX) A.C.; Casa del Migrante Saltillo (Frontera con Justicia A.C.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Matías de Córdova, A.C.; Coalición Pro Defensa del Migrante de Baja California; Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos; Fundación Appleseed México, A.C.; DHIA. Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción, A.C.; IMUMI Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración; Iniciativa Ciudadana para la Promoción de la Cultura del Diálogo, A.C.; INSYDE Instituto para la Seguridad y la Democracia; M3 Movimiento Migrante Mesoamericano; REDIM Red por los Derechos de la Infancia en México; Save the Children México, Sin Fronteras, IAP; Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes México; Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados; SMR Scalabrinianas: Misión con Migrantes y Refugiados; Leticia Calderón, Analista en temas migratorios; Brenda Valdés; Elba Coria; Manuel Ángel Castillo, Investigador; Gloria Ciria Valdéz Gardea, fundadora y coordinadora del Seminario Niñez Migrante; IDC International Detention Coalition (Observadoras). Claudia Martínez Medrano, Jocelín Mariscal Agreda y Melissa A. Vértiz Hernández, Secretaría Técnica.

Hope Border Institute

Human Rights First / Derechos Humanos Primero

IMDH

Immigrant Defenders Law Center

International Rescue Committee

Justice Action Center

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

Kino Border Initiative / Iniciativa Kino para la Frontera

La 72 Hogar-Refugio para personas migrantes

Laboratório de Estudos de Imigracão

Laboratorio de Paz

Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center

Latin America Working Group (LAWG)

Latinas en Poder

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Mennonite Central Committee U.S.

National Immigration Law Center

National Immigration Project (NIPNLG)

Polaris

Programa de Asuntos Migratorios Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México

Programa Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos (Provea)

PROMEDEHUM

Red Jesuita con Migrantes

Red Jesuita con Migrantes de Guatemala

Red Jesuita con Migrantes LAC

Refugee Law Office, Legal Aid Ontario

Refugees International

Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network

Seminario Niñez Migrante

Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes (Argentina)

Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes (Chile)

Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados (Ecuador)

Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados (JRS) México

Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados para Latinoamérica y El Caribe - JRS LAC

Servicio Jesuita para Migrantes (Costa Rica)

Serviço Jesuíta a Migrantes e Refugiados Brasil

Sin Fronteras IAP

South Texas Human Rights Center

Southern Poverty Law Center

The Advocates for Human Rights

Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México

University of Toronto

Vicentinos en La Frontera/Diáspora

Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

Witness at the Border
Women's Refugee Commission (WRC)

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