Organizations call for policies against the pandemic in the Americas to include migrants and refugees
In a joint statement, more than 130 organizations say that any measure to combat the pandemic that excludes people based on nationality is unacceptable
Hundreds of people and civil society organizations from different countries in the Americas published on Monday, January 18, a joint statement demanding that vaccinations against Covid-19 and access to health care services be available to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons.
The document, signed by more than 400 organizations and individuals that work with migration, points out that each State has the obligation to guarantee the right to life, physical integrity and health to all people inside its borders.
“We consider any policy, program, protocol or other measure intended to prevent and combat the COVID-19 pandemic that totally or partially excludes people based on their nationality, place of origin, residency status, length of residency or immigration status to be inadmissible and totally against human rights and inexcusable legal obligations,” they said in the statement.
“Therefore, we call on the States of the Americas to comply in full with their human rights obligations, by guaranteeing all people access to all the preventive and therapeutic treatment necessary to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, without regard to nationality, place of origin, residency or immigration status,” they concluded.
According to the organizations, the restrictions on migrant populations in the vaccination plans go against public health goals and could affect the human, technical and financial resources of the health systems, thereby worsening the existing health emergency.
