Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(
IACHR) expresses its deep concern regarding the extreme vulnerability
of some 1,300 migrants who are stranded in the Colombian town of Turbo,
near the Darien Gap, Colombia, close to the border with Panama. Among
the migrants are men and women, including pregnant women, as well as
children, including newborns. Most of the migrants come from Cuba and
Haiti, along with others from African and Asian countries, and are
headed to the United States.
According to publicly available information, the migrants
who have made it to Turbo have reached Colombia via different
routes—through Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, or Brazil—so as to then
continue their journey to the United States, passing through Central
American countries and Mexico. The situation of the migrants stranded
in Turbo has been exacerbated by the closure of the border and the
tightening of immigration controls by Panama on May 9, 2016. The IACHR
welcomes the information sent by the State that there have not been
detentions of irregular migrants because this practice is not legal in
the country.
According to a population survey by the Colombian Human
Rights Ombudsman’s Office, as of July 28, 2016, there were 1,273 Cuban
migrants in vulnerable circumstances in the town of Turbo, including
nearly 300 children. According to the Colombian State, the Ministry of
Health and the Colombian Family Welfare Institute has been providing
special attention to women and children. The Ombudsman’s Office
reported that the main human rights concerns have to do with the
migrants’ living quarters, problems with access to food, the risk of
contracting diseases, and the potential for becoming victims of human
trafficking.
According to the information presented by the State, there
has been a promotion of voluntary exit of migrants from Colombian
territory and through this mechanism, more than 600 migrants in
irregular situation have left the country using a travel document. On
this matter, the IACHR reiterates that before promoting a voluntary
exit, it is the obligation of the State to identify migrants who have
special needs of protection, such as asylum seekers and refugees,
persons subject to complementary protection, victims of human
trafficking, among others, and to adopt the measures needed for their
protection.
The Commission has received information indicating that the
migrants, faced with a lack of legal and safe migration channels, are
turning to clandestine routes and channels, in which they are
vulnerable to abuse and extortion by criminal organizations, traffickers
of migrants, and some police. Moreover, there have been incidents in
recent years in which migrant boats have sunk while trying to reach
Panama from Colombia, resulting in migrant deaths and disappearances.
On January 11, 2016, the Colombian authorities reported that a boat
transporting 24 African migrants sank in the Gulf of Urabá; nine of the
migrants were rescued by authorities.
The Commission has also received information regarding the
dangers of death and abuse faced by migrants who have set out through
the jungle region of the Darien Gap, where armed groups operate.
Migrants who have traveled that route reported that they had endured
inhumane conditions on the journey through the jungle and had walked by
the bodies of migrants who had died and others who had suffered
serious injuries and bone fractures. The Commission has also received
information regarding rapes and acts of sexual violence, as well as
robberies, physical blows, and extortion by traffickers of migrants and
in some cases even by members of the police. The Colombian State
informed it has created a unified command center that coordinates,
develops and evaluates the activities of the authorities to answer to
the situation, with the participation of several national and
international bodies.
In keeping with Colombia’s international human rights
obligations, the Commission calls on the Colombian State to implement
any measures necessary to protect the life, integrity, and security of
all migrants under its jurisdiction. The effective guarantee of the
right to life requires the State to adopt prevention, protection, and
assistance measures when it is aware of situations of migrants in
danger. The State should also adopt measures to guarantee the rights to
due process and judicial protection in the context of immigration
proceedings, the right to family unity, the right to seek and receive
asylum, the principle of
non-refoulement, and the prohibition
on the collective expulsion of foreign nationals. In addition, States
should adopt the necessary measures to prevent and punish any abuses
that individuals and State authorities may commit against migrant
persons.
In the wake of the announcement by Colombia’s immigration
agency, “Migración Colombia”, that it was beginning deportations of the
migrants in Turbo, the IACHR reiterates that, in keeping with
international norms and standards, immigration proceedings—especially
those that could lead to deportation—must analyze, establish a basis
for, and decide individually on each case, and must respect minimum
guarantees. These include migrants’ right to be heard by the relevant
authority in the context of the deportation proceedings and to have
sufficient opportunity to exercise their right to a defense; the right
to interpretation and translation; the right to legal representation;
the right to consular protection; the right to receive notification of a
deportation order; access to an effective remedy to appeal a
deportation decision; the right to appeal a deportation decision; and
the right to suspension of deportation while the matter is under
appeal. The State reported that to date has not been filed any remedy
against the deportations. Based on the above and the extremely
vulnerable situation of these migrants, the Commission notes that these
people are in Turbo, a remote area of the country, and that the State
should take steps to effectively implement the right to have a remedy to
appeal the deportation decisions.
“The fact that migrants are turning to irregular channels
and to traffickers is explained by the absence and shortage of legal
and safe migration channels. We call on the American States to take
immediate action to open up channels that allow these people to migrate
legally and safely,” said Commissioner James Cavallaro, President of
the IACHR. To that end, States can make use of programs such as
humanitarian admission programs, family reunification visas, student
scholarships, labor mobility programs, private sponsorships, and
refugee resettlement programs.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States
(OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the
American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a
mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a
consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed
of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity
by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of
origin or residence.
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