|
Immigrant and Refugee Rights Organizations
Nationwide
Protest Post-9/11 Immigration Policy on UN International Migrants
Day
Groups Celebrate UN Migrant Workers’
Convention’s Entry-Into-Force
December 18, 2003: Over 60 immigrant, civil,
and human rights organizations around the U.S. today denounced U.S.
immigration policies as endangering, not protecting, the rights
of immigrants nationwide. “Immigrants and refugees continue
to be the specific targets of intensified law enforcement and public
scapegoating in the name of national security,” concluded
a national statement endorsed by the organizations and which was
released on the occasion of the United Nations’ International
Migrants Day.
“Law enforcement continues to use immigration procedures in
the name of anti-terrorism, denying the most basic of civil and
human rights protections to non-citizens,” said Catherine
Tactaquin, Executive Director of the National Network for Immigrant
and Refugee Rights, and co-editor of a recently-released report
on the impact of national security-related policies and practices
on community safety. The report, “Human Rights & Human
Security at Risk”, details the criminalization of immigrants
by the placing of immigration enforcement and services in the Department
of Homeland Security, an agency that, according to the report, leaves
little chance for equal protection or due process of immigrants
“as long as immigration policies are cemented to a war against
terrorism.”
In activities around the country on December 18, immigrant rights
organizations will also celebrate the UN Migrant Workers’
Convention’s entry-into-force. It is the most recent human
rights treaty at the UN and the first international treaty that
specifically protects the human rights of migrants. The Convention
establishes binding standards on the human rights and treatment
of documented and undocumented migrant workers. The Convention was
brought into force on July 1st this year and allows the UN to establish
an office to monitor the Convention’s implementation, as well
as an international treaty body to review signator countries’
adherence to the treaty.
Press conferences will be conducted in Oakland, CA, Tucson, AZ,
and Phoenix, AZ. Local events in celebration of International Migrants
Day will be held in thirteen cities in the U.S., including Chicago,
IL; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; New York, NY; Santa Fe,
NM; Immokalee, FL; Houston, TX; Atlanta, GA.
The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is a national
organization composed of local coalitions and immigrant, refugee,
community, religious, civil rights and labor organizations and activists.
The National Network works to promote a just immigration and refugee
policy in the United States and to defend and expand the rights
of all immigrants and refugees, regardless of immigration status.
For more information about U.S.-based activities on International
Migrants Day, visit www.nnirr.org.
-
_________________________________________________________
To inform us of events planned in your area or
for more information, contact the Immigrant Workers Freedom
Ride at [email protected]
_________________________________________________________
:
© 2003 Hotel
Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union
|
