Migrants have the same rights as any other citizen in any other country: OAS

The organization's secretary, Luis Almagro, said that migrants have human rights just like any other citizen in any other country, referring to the construction of the wall announced by President Trump.

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, warned this month that migration policies "must respect human rights", in the face of US President Donald Trump's approval of the bases for building the wall with Mexico.

"Migrants have rights just like any other citizen in any other country," said Almagro during an appearance before the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat) in the European Parliament (EP).

Almagro thus contested the Eurodeputies' questions about the Trump administration's first days in office, which include progress towards approving the construction of the wall with Mexico, a theme of the Republican's campaign in his repeated attacks on the country.

"There are definitely issues that are of great concern to the organization, (...) we have to take into account the positions of these first days of government of the new US administration," he said.

In this sense, Almagro highlighted "the advances that have been made in terms of social and civil rights in the inter-American context" and warned that "it would not be admissible for there to be any backsliding in this respect".

Specifically, he referred to "how any deportation scheme will be implemented", but emphasized that US migration policy "does not begin now with the new administration".

"The Obama administration itself, throughout its administration, deported more than 2.5 million people; Trump's figure for his term is 3 million people. The issue is how to carry this out and how to respect the rights of migrants", he argued.

Almagro argued that this policy should respect "every economic, social, cultural, civil and political right that every migrant has, a person with rights, just like any citizen of any country".

"Las migration policies of the countries are of the countriesbut they must be consistent with rights policies", he insisted.

Regarding Trump's trade policy, mentioned by some Eurodeputies and "a source of enormous concern" for Eurolat, according to its president Ramón Jáuregui, Almagro pointed out that "these issues are outside the scope of the OAS' jurisdiction", but considered that it "may have collateral effects".

Jáuregui lamented Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which will "have repercussions on the commercial expectations" of countries like Mexico, Chile and Peru.

"We are extremely concerned about a policy of commercial protectionism that could greatly harm many Latin Americans," said the Socialist MEP.

In this regard, Almagro expressed his confidence that "the negative effects can be reversed with other opening policies" and argued that, for the organization, "trade is the basis of development".

"The scheme of interrelation with the world is fundamental to our development project and it is so for most of the countries of the Americas", he recalled.

During the debate, several MEPs showed their concern about Trump's first decisions after coming to power.

From the People's Party (PP), Luis de Grandes described these actions as "a dangerWhile Teresa Jiménez-Becerril lamented "the trampling of the dignity of Latin Americans by the President of the United States".

Almagro also spoke about Venezuela and pointed out the need to "seek definitive solutions" from the international community, while denouncing the situation facing political prisoners in the country.

"Dialogue cannot exist when those who defend it are imprisoned for their ideas. The lack of dialog is the clear sign of democratic failure," he concluded.

Source: El Heraldo