International: JRS report highlights systematic policy
hindering refugee arrivals
International Human Rights Day
A practice increasingly employed throughout the world
Rome, 7 December 2011 – In its latest report, Safe and Secure: How do Refugees Experience Europe’s Borders?, JRS finds ample evidence that European governments actively hinder refugee arrivals. JRS field offices confirm these deplorable practices are not limited to Europe; they are rapidly becoming the norm throughout Asia and Africa.
As the world commemorates the anniversary on 10 December of this poignant document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Jesuit Refugee Service urges states to:
- respond swiftly to all migrants and refugees in distress at sea and offer all those apprehended, including at land borders, access to procedures to determine whether they are in need of international protection; and
- end the practice of forcibly removing migrants to third countries where their human rights cannot be effectively protected.
“Sixty years after the formal adoption of the 1951 UN refugee convention, many governments are still inventing new excuses to justify the closure of their borders to asylum seekers instead of working to find durable solutions to forced displacement. This approach leads to tremendous human suffering while ignoring the universal obligation to protect the fundamental human rights of forced migrants”, said JRS International Director, Peter Balleis SJ.
To read more about the JRS Report click here