Case 10-2015:
Argentina
Proclamation on Immigration
August 30, 2016
The International
Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights,
Whereas on September 1, 2016 the Argentine
Government has decided to set up a detention
center for immigrants, which is undoubtedly a prison for foreigners, whose transfer and custody will be carried
out by federal police as a preliminary stage to deportation;
Recalling that this fact is a significant
political downturn of the Argentine Government concerning human rights, because
not only violates local immigration laws and international human rights
instruments, but it also comes back to the old policy of the last military
dictatorship, whose perspective was to restrict, persecute and criminalize immigration,
carrying out illegal detention centers where the guarantees of criminal law and
due process are often violated;
Aware that this persecutory policy is a radical
change of direction on the part of Argentina in compliance with human rights of
immigrants, which is framed in an illegal worldwide climate in which
superpowers are led by a xenophobic and anti-immigration vision by considering
immigrants not only as suspects and offenders, but also as a scapegoat for
unemployment and poverty, as in the case of the European Union and the United
States, the latter being a country where half of the migrant detainees of the
world are, instead of helping them access better living conditions;
Deeply concerned because this punitive action
of the Argentine Government to seek to detain immigrants rather than help them
to regularize their situation is a contradiction to its public manifestation of
an alleged governmental good willingness in receiving immigrants and refugees
coming from Syria;
Deploring the criminalization of immigration,
which not only is in rebellion against international Human Rights treaties, but
also violates the Preamble of the Argentine Constitution, where the blessings of Liberty to ourselves, to
our posterity, and to all men in the world who wish to dwell on Argentine soil
are safeguarded;
Analyzing that the international Human Rights
conventions that Argentina has signed are clearly aimed at considering police
detention and arbitrary imprisonment by way of punishment or as deterrence
purposes for political reasons of immigration control constitute an attack
against the right to freedom and it criminalizes the right to free movement of
immigrants;
Considering that the Argentine immigration law
enables detention only as a last resort, after a judicial order for expulsion,
after the immigrant would be granted with the possibility of regularization,
due that his detention involves the criminalization of migrants, associating
them with a security problem;
Examining
that the right to emigrate and to live peacefully in another country is part of
the Human Right to Peace, as is established by the Santiago Declaration of 2010, so that immigrants and refugees are
human beings free to decide where they wish to live, reason by which State
powers should not interfere with said willingness except in those cases where
an immigrant is a real threat to the safety and welfare of society;
Considering that the States should move from a
paradigm of the right to fight and expel
to a paradigm of the human right to migration,
which is neither a problem of national security nor of public order, being
rather an essential form of social relationship with the neighboring countries
of the region;
Affirming that while States have the right to regulate
the entry, stay and departure of foreigners in their country, certainly have no
right to criminalization, detention and systematic expulsion of immigrants
because it is an action that encourages discrimination, xenophobia and racism;
Showing concern about the fact that while the previous
government of Argentina manipulated the emblem of human rights, instead, the
current government shows disregard for a deep policy in this field, which is
evident in its indifference to know precisely what was the true number of
people killed by the Argentine State during the last military dictatorship;
Reaffirming that the discriminatory treatment that the
Argentine government provides to immigrants has also been carried out against
Aboriginal communities and tribal peoples in the country, including the
systematical religious discrimination against the International Temple know as World Association of Buddhism, unprotecting
it with impunity facing violent attacks, while the Catholic Church is
subsidized by the State with millionaire funds even though it has
systematically committed sexual abuses and has also been complicit in genocide
and crimes against humanity during Argentina's last military dictatorship;
I.
It
is expressed absolute solidarity with the status of immigrants and refugees,
since the members of the Buddhic People are citizens of the world, without
attachment to any nationality;
II.
It is
declared that the Argentine government is violating the existing national laws
on Migration as well as the international commitments undertaken by the
country, representing a break point or step backwards in Argentine migratory
policy, since Law 25871 regulated in 2010 was worldwide recognized as a model
for its promotion on the human right to migrate instead of prioritizing
control, combat and migratory restriction;
III.
It is
issued an order to investigate the European Union for having decided to make
arrests and mass deportations of immigrants and refugees, which violates
international human rights treaties, constituting a crime against humanity to
be analyzed within the framework of ethical judgments of Buddhist Law;
IV.
It is manifested that
immigrants are human beings with full civil rights and an intrinsic Liberty that States must respect and maintain;
V.
It
stated that immigrants should be able to become citizens of the countries where
they wish to live, provided they refrain from all forms of violence and want a
life full of peace, labor, education and health;
VI.
The
false association between migration and crime is condemned, not only for being
a political perspective that leads to negative effects such as discrimination,
but also because immigration entails a host of positive contributions to
societies;
VII.
It is
confirmed that restrictive and controlling migration policies are ineffective,
because do not solve the causes of immigration, so it is more right and proper
moving toward a policy of protection of Human Rights to migrate, to be
integrated and to be included;
VIII.
It is
established that rich countries have the duty to help the poor countries in
order that their populations do not flee from war, poverty, ignorance and
pollution;
IX.
This
ethical Proclamation is invoked as an act of justice against violations of the
Constitution and Human Rights by the Argentine State, the United States and the
European Community;
X.
It is
impugned the fact that the Argentine government does not belie the hundreds of
newspaper articles describing the president's actions as "Buddhist"
or "Zen", which implies a superficial, capitalistic and perverse use
of Spirituality;
XI.
It is
remembered the ethical spirit of the Buddhic People in the Saffron Revolution of Myanmar, by requesting four petitions to the
Argentine Government: that it make an appropriate apology to the World Association of Buddhism for the
impunity of attacks received; the annulment of increases of taxes and services
for those living in poverty and extreme poverty; that it prohibits the creation
of detention centers in Argentina and the South American region; that it
promotes unity and reconciliation of all social sectors of Argentina in order
to seek peace, social justice, knowledge and ecology;
Written in Costa
Bonita, Argentina, two thousand and six hundred years after the foundation and
independence of the Buddhist People.
President: Buddhist Master Maitreya
