News Desk
ISLAMABAD: The United Nation High Commissioner (UNHCR) Chief Volker Turk warned Wednesday that a new US border enforcement plan risks undermining the basic foundations of international human rights and refugee law adding that seeking asylum was a right to every human, no matter a person’s origin, immigration status, nor their arrival at an international border.
US President Joe Biden announced a new plan last week to expand a controversial rule called Title 42, making it probable to immediately turn away more people showing up at the border without clearance.
The new plan permits the fast-track expulsion to Mexico of about 30,000 Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans, and Nicaraguans each month.
The UNHCR Chief warned that these measures appeared to be at variance with the prohibition of collective expulsion and the international principle of non-refoulment.
The international principle of non-refoulment assures that no one should be returned to a country where they could face torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
The UN rights office pointed out that even before the expansion, US immigration officials have already used by some 2.5 million times at the southern border to eject people to Mexico or their home country without an individualized assessment of all their protection needs accompanied by due process and procedural safeguards.
US about migrants
Meanwhile, the White House has said it hopes the hardened measures will stem huge numbers of migrant and asylum seekers arriving after epic, often dangerous journeys organized by people smugglers.
To try to calm critics on the left, Biden said about 30,000 qualifying migrants will be allowed into the United States each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, where they must apply in their home countries, have a US sponsor, and undergo background checks.
Volker Turk said he welcomed the measures to create and expand safe and regular pathways. However, he added, “such initiatives should not threaten fundamental human rights, including the right to seek asylum and the right to an individual assessment of protection needs.
He also voiced concern that those most in need of asylum and those in vulnerable conditions were unlikely to meet the restrictive requirements for humanitarian parole, comprising having a financial sponsor in the United States.
He repeated his call for the rights of refugees and migrants to be respected and protected at international borders with care.
