The Ninth Summit of the Americas: An Assessment and a Call for Follow-Up

As former Costa Rican president Chinchilla stated, it was a single-issue summit in the sense that migration, elevated by host President Biden in Los Angeles in June 2022, was the most prominent issue, leading to a declaration signed by 20 states.

It is noteworthy that the Declaration has several positive aspects, although they do not differ from those already contained in the Global Compacts (which could perhaps be one single instrument to address human mobility comprehensively), much less from various regional declarations adopted so far this century, perhaps with broader scope in South America.

Some criticism from defenders of migrants' rights underscores a biased approach to migration irregularity and a narrow view of people who migrate in situations of vulnerability and with a need for protection of their rights, not only asylum. The inclusion of the return of children is also worrying, since this is a highly sensitive issue and in some national legislations it is categorically prohibited.

Broadly speaking, OBMICA welcomes the declaration and joins the position of key regional civil society organizations, which includes the text in the box below.

POSITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS OF THE AMERICAS FOR CONTINENTAL ACTIONS TOWARD MIGRATION WITH RIGHTS AND DIGNITY

 

For the Declaration not to remain a mere expression of good intentions and aspirations, the governments of the region must ensure the development of action plans with the participation of migrant organizations and civil society, in order to fulfill the commitments assumed regarding respect for human rights, with clear indicators and implementation deadlines, including the evaluation and monitoring of progress in their implementation. As part of this process, we urge sustained consultation with migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, returnees, and host communities across the Americas, as well as with a broad range of organizations for the rights of migrants, human rights organizations, and organizations led by Indigenous peoples, including the evaluation and monitoring of progress in meeting the objectives.

While we recognize that the Declaration represents a more comprehensive approach to migration, we are concerned that governments continue to focus on cooperation for containment and the implementation of border-control and law-enforcement policies, including the lack of additional accountability and oversight mechanisms, the exchange of information without adequate safeguards, which entails privacy and surveillance risks, and the imposition of visa regimes, which may negatively affect people seeking refuge and push them toward more dangerous routes. Given the mixed nature of migration trends, and instead of ineffective and harmful law-enforcement-based approaches, we urge states to implement protection-sensitive entry systems necessary to identify protection needs, protect against refoulement, and guarantee access to asylum procedures. June 17, 2022.

We maintain that it is a missed opportunity that few states of the Caribbean archipelago adhered to the Declaration, and that the Dominican Republic's signature is notably absent, although Barbados, Haiti, and Jamaica did sign it. As Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley rightly stated, there was too much emphasis on the states that were not invited, which in her view was a mistake and tended to distract attention from the importance of the Summit. In that vein, she began her speech by referring to the multiple crises faced by the region, quoting Bob Marley: "Bless my eyes this morning. Jah sun is on the rise again. The way earthly things are going, anything can happen."