This November marks 30 years since the adoption of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, Latin America’s most progressive and comprehensive policy on refugees, as well as displaced and stateless persons.
To commemorate the anniversary, the Cartagena +30 Initiative was established as a mechanism to promote participation, compliance and follow up, by States, civil society, academia and UNHCR. The purpose of this process is to recognize progress made and lessons learnt in the past, as well as formulate the current challenges to protection policies and the rights of these groups, with the aim of contributing to the international protection agenda for the coming decade.
Since late last year, the IDC has collaborated with its members Asylum Access, Sin Fronteras and ACAI, who led the production of a regional report which includes recommendations from civil society in over 14 countries in the region as well as various regional and international organizations. Its recommendations include the democratization of border and points of entry, identification of persons in need of international protection, refugee status determination and statelessness determination procederes, as well as local integration, resettlement and special protections for women and children. Amongst these recommendations, we highlight the proposal to eliminate immigration detention and all forms of deprivation of liberty for immigration reasons.
The first subregional meeting took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in March, where representatives of MERCOSUR countries met to agree on proposals and recommendations to strengthen the right to asylum and other international protection in the region. Subregional meetings follow in the Andean, Mesoamerican and Caribbean regions, before a final meeting in Brasilia at year end. Thw subregional civil society meetings are coordinated by the Norwegian Refugee Council, from its regional Panama office. IDC will conitnue to follow these meetings through its regional network of organizations, as well as with States and UNHCR, in order to contribute to ending immigration detention for refugees, displaced persons and stateless persons in the region.
Since this is an ongoing process, it is open to additional organizations joining the civil society position statements made in the regional report below.
Please contact [email protected] directly should you wish to join.
Related Links
Informe regional y posicionamiento de la sociedad civil: Regional report and civil society position statement
Recomendaciones y otros documentos del encuentro subregional MERCOSUR
The Route to Cartagena 30: Challenges to Protection in Latin America (Asylum Access)
Cartagena +30 Civil Society Initiative (Asylum Access)
Declaración de Cartagena/Cartagena Declaration, 1984