FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2017
Contact: Daniella Burgi-Palomino, dburgipalomino@lawg.org, (202) 546-7010
***MEDIA ADVISORY***
TOMORROW, March 21
11:30 am EST
Washington, DC – Tomorrow, the Latin America Working Group (LAWG) and partner organizations will present at a hearing convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to review and report on U.S. policies that are preventing women and children at the U.S.-Mexico border from accessing critical protections.
Among other requests, petitioners are asking the IACHR to:
- Hold the United States accountable for policies inhibiting access to asylum;
- Conduct a site visit to the U.S.-Mexico border;
- Hold a follow-up round-table dialogue with representatives of the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras, to discuss the on-going obligations these countries have to ensure the full rights of migrants, and the special protections due to asylum seekers;
- Encourage Customs & Border Protection (CBP) to address deficiencies and improve officers’ training, guidelines, and practices and create specific oversight mechanisms to promote transparency and investigate complaints, in order to avoid mistreatment and abuse of migrants.
WHO: Al Otro Lado
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Immigration Council (AIC)
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
Hope Border Institute
Human Rights First (HRF)
Innovation Law Lab
Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI)
Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States
Kino Border Initiative
Latin America Working Group (LAWG)
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)
Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC)
Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (TRLA)
Transnational Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic, University of San Francisco School of Law
Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas Law School
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC)
WHAT: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Hearing
WHEN: TOMORROW, March 21, 11:30 am
WHERE: 1889 F Street NW, Padilha Vidal Room, TL Level
If you are planning on watching remotely (or after the fact):
Stay tuned to the IACHR’s website – on the day of the hearing, there will be a link to “multimedia”. Click on “watch live” for the Padilha Vidal room.
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Read the follow-up NGO letter sent to Secretary Tillerson on April 5, 2017 regarding the U.S. government’s absence at the aforementioned IACHR hearing here.
