Human Rights groups urge Costa Rica and Panama to address injustices relating to U.S. return scheme – and prevent repetition
International human rights organizations urged the governments of Costa Rica and Panama today to address human rights abuses resulting from their agreement to receive families and adults who are unlawfully prevented from seeking asylum in the United States and to prevent any repetition of similar arrangements.
Signatories include Amnesty International, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Refugees International, and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), along with American Friends Service Committee which works in Costa Rica. Researchers from Human Rights Watch and Refugees International recently visited these countries, and along with Human Rights First, have interviewed people subjected to these denials of access to asylum.
“The governments of Costa Rica and Panama have been made complicit in the U.S. scheme to deny access to asylum to people seeking refuge from religious, political and other persecution.” said Eleanor Acer, Senior Director for Global Humanitarian Protection at Human Rights First. “Now, more than ever, it is imperative to uphold the rule of law and adhere to international human rights and refugee law. Caving into demands that violate human rights won’t appease human rights abusers, it will simply encourage more and more egregious attempts to violate international law and subvert the international order.”
“The people we have interviewed fled targeted threats and persecution and asked for asylum at the U.S. border but were mistreated, separated from relatives, and summarily sent to Panama and Costa Rica by the United States Department of Homeland Security,” said Yael Schacher, Director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International. “The Panamanian and Costa Rican governments must ensure these individuals and families are not stranded in limbo or returned to danger, and must refuse to accept any further flights carrying asylum seekers from the U.S.”
“The people I’ve spoken to in Panama were all wanting to seek asylum in the United States,” said Bill Frelick, Director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. “They all crossed the border after the inauguration of President Trump. They were summarily transferred to Panama without being given any chance to lodge asylum claims in the United States. However unlawful the removal of these people was, and, indeed, it was unlawful, Panama has accepted them and now has the responsibility to provide full and fair examination of the asylum claims of any who want to seek asylum in Panama.”
“Everyone has a right to seek and enjoy asylum,” affirms Maureen Meyer, Vice President for Programs at the Washington Office on Latin America. “As the United States cruelly turns its back on people feeling persecution, the governments of Costa Rica and Panama should not be complicit in these actions. Both governments should respect due process and, rather than abandoning them to their fate, ensure that these individuals are able to request asylum and receive the support they need to have their protection claims assessed in a fair manner.”
The letters call for the governments of Costa Rica and Panama to: halt the onward return of individuals in need of international protection; facilitate immediate and unrestricted access to communication with family, legal counsel, UN agencies and civil society organizations; adhere to human rights prohibitions against arbitrary detention; provide access to full and fair asylum procedures; and, for those who still wish to seek asylum in the United States, request that the U.S. government facilitate the return to its country of asylum seekers who were denied the right to lodge asylum claims in the United States.The groups also urge that the governments refrain from accepting any further flights of third country nationals from the United States who have not had a full and fair examination of their asylum claims in the United States.
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