Inter-American Commission on Human Rights CALLS FOR AMERICAN COUNTRIES TO ALLOW US TO STEP OF CUBAN

Courtesy: Cubanet

WASHINGTON, United States.- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) Monday urged American countries to open legal and safe channels for thousands of Cubans en route to the United States, expressing concern about the situation of "vulnerability" of migrants.

"The fact that migrants resort to irregular channels and smugglers is explained by the lack and inadequacy of legal and safe migration channels , " said the president of the IACHR, James Cavallaro, in a statement.

"We call it the American States to act immediately to enable channels that enable these people to migrate legally and safely , " he added.

Thousands of migrants, mostly Cubans and Haitians but also Asian and African countries have been hosted in the Colombian town of Turbo, on the border with Panama, seeking to follow the route to the United States.

Cubans seek to exploit a US law that offers immigration benefits, which they fear may disappear by the recent diplomatic rapprochement between Washington and Havana.

According to the Commission, countries have at their disposal legal and safe for migrants channels, through mechanisms such as programs of humanitarian admission and resettlement of refugees, visas for family reunification, scholarships, labor mobility programs, private sponsorships, among others.

According to a census conducted by the Colombian authorities in late July, almost 1,300 Cubans --and more than 2 400 according informales-- counts they are housed in Turbo.

The Commission stressed that migrants face problems of accommodation and food, and are at risk of contracting diseases or become victims of trafficking, creating a cadre of "extreme vulnerability" to which the body expressed "deep concern".

The Commission welcomed the decision by the Colombian authorities, weekend deported 14 Cuban and ordered hundreds to leave the country, not to make arrests of migrants.

But he called the South American country to "implement all measures necessary to protect the life, integrity and security of all migrants under their jurisdiction", including non - refoulement to a place where they are at risk.

The situation of migrants in Turbo "has worsened" following increased controls by the Panamanian border authorities, the Commission stated, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States.

He warned of the dangers of the jungle route between Colombia and Panama due to the presence of armed groups.

But that did not stop thousands of Cubans, who were in Turbo, and that the refusal of the Colombian government to facilitate their arrival in the United States, the weekend took to the jungle to try to reach Panama, and from there continue the journey north.

(AFP)