Mexico, the United Nations and Migration: Words at Summit Aren't Enough La Jornada
go to original September 21, 2016

A handout picture by Mexico's Presidency on September 19, 2016, from Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto (c) receiving the Foreign Policy Association's Statesman of the Year award in New York. (EFE)

Monday, the first UN summit on Refugees and Migrants approved a set of propositions called the New York Declaration, in which member countries are urged to take various measures to support migrants and refugees; including protecting the rights of those who have left their places of origin and facilitating their access to work and education. As stated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the document “will only have real meaning if we honor the commitments we have made today.”

But such a commitment is extremely uncertain, since the declaration is not binding and the only concrete - yet insufficient - gestures of the meeting were from the Chinese representation, which put $100 million at the disposal of the United Nations for humanitarian assistance to migrants and refugees, and the launch of an advertising campaign by the international organization in response to rising xenophobia in countries that are recipients of migration flows.

As noted by various non-government organizations, at the New York summit, the good intentions of government representatives proliferated when, in practice, "instead of respecting the rights of each individual and fulfilling existing commitments, they opt for increasingly restrictive and harmful approaches” against foreigners who come to their respective countries, said Aurelie Ponthieu, adviser of Doctors Without Borders.

To confirm this, just remember that while the summit on migration took place, France was placing migrants in internment camps, Britain is building a wall on French territory to prevent foreigners from arriving via the English Channel, and the on Greek island of Lesbos a migrant camp was anonymously, and seemingly intentionally, set on fire.

In Mexico’s case, President Enrique Peña Nieto, who attended the New York meeting, said his government “will continue working to recognize migrants as agents of change and development, to guarantee their human rights and eliminate hateful speech and discrimination against them.”

These words differ, however, from the persistent mistreatment suffered by Central and South American, Asian and Caribbean people transiting through our territory headed for the United States. We have not been able to eradicate that regrettable reality, even with the adoption, in 2011, of an advanced immigration law.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Related: Peña Nieto Defends Migrants at UN, But in Mexico Deportations and Attacks Increase (Animal Politico)

Related: Peña Nieto Deserves a Smack Around the Head, Not an Award as "Statesman of the Year" (Mexico Voices)

Related: Obama Draws Pledges from 50 Countries to Take in 360,000 Refugees (Agence France-Presse)

Related: World Leaders at U.N. Approve Plan for Refugee Crisis (The Associated Press)

Related: Obama Thanks Mexico for ‘Absorbing’ Central American Refugees. His Own Administration Wants to Turn Them Away (The Washington Post)

Related: John Hoffmire: How We Define the Word Refugee Influences What We Do to Help (Deseret News)

Related: What You Need to Know About Green Card Lottery (NY Daily News)

Translated by Amanda Coe

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico - on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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