The Human Rights of Refugees
The protection of the human rights of foreign nationals is not only a legal obligation of states—it is also a moral duty and an effective tool for promoting social cohesion and ensuring inclusion.
HAVANA TIMES – June 20th marked World Refugee Day, a fitting occasion to reflect more deeply on the challenges and obstacles faced by those who flee their countries in search of international protection.
This year, the date came amid a global and regional context of increasing attacks on the guarantee of the human right to seek asylum, in contrast with a reality in which political and economic crises are driving millions from their homes.
In today’s world, more and more people are being forcibly displaced from their countries as a way to safeguard their most basic rights, including life, health, and access to food. However, the ability to make the right to asylum a reality is becoming increasingly restricted and limited, while host countries are experiencing regressive trends in the recognition and access to civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights for refugees and asylum seekers.
Despite Chile’s historical commitment to asylum, the country is unfortunately not immune to these trends. In its 2024 conclusions, the United Nations Human Rights Committee warned of a deterioration in procedures for determining refugee status and identifying international protection needs, including access barriers and the possibility of being turned away at the border without proper respect for the principle of non-refoulement.
Likewise, statements by the Committee on Migrant Workers and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in recent years have raised concerns about the steady increase in the rejection of foreign nationals, including asylum seekers and refugees. They have also expressed alarm at the criminalization of migrants in irregular situations, many of whom are asylum seekers from Haiti and Venezuela.
In this regard, a 2018 resolution by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is relevant, clearly stating that, given the severe political, economic, and social situation in Venezuela in recent years, there is a grave and complex crisis of forced migration. In other words, as the Commission acknowledges, a large segment of the Venezuelan population has been forced to leave the country as a survival strategy.
The Commission therefore urged states to ensure that Venezuelans who have been forced to flee to other countries receive the protection they require, and it reminded governments of their duty not to criminalize migration, calling for the avoidance of border closures, the penalization of irregular entry, and hate speech.
Protecting the human rights of foreign nationals is not only a legal obligation of states—it is also a moral duty and an effective means to promote social cohesion and ensure inclusion.
In the region, Venezuela’s experience has led to the adoption of policies of hospitality and protection that, although certainly not without challenges, offer a sense of hope. It is possible to establish robust systems that guarantee the human right to seek asylum and to implement policies that respond to forced displacement and protect the human rights of both those who flee and those who receive them in host countries.
*Jan Jarab is the Representative of the United Nations Human Rights Office for South America.
First published in Spanish by El Mostrador and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.