Proclamation on Immigration

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