18 October 2011
PROLONGED MANDATORY DETENTION IS CATASTROPHIC, DEMEANING AND VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS
"All prolonged mandatory detention of those fleeing persecution is catastrophic for detainees, violates human rights, and demeans those who inflict and have oversight of the system" said Archbishop Tomasi, the Permanent Representative of the Holy See (Vatican) to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, in an address to the Human Rights Council earlier this month.
The statement lamented the erosion of the noble aims of the 1951 Refugee Convention “to assure refugees the widest possible exercise of their fundamental rights and freedoms” and called for the plight of the estimated 43 million refugees, asylum seekers and other forcibly displaced persons in the world today to be addressed.
Archbishop Tomasi pointed out that "Public opinion and political expediency have impacted the need for protection of asylum-seekers in a negative way" and criticised the treatment of asylum seekers, especially children, as if they were criminal prisoners. He urged the development of alternatives to detention and for the introduction of practical measures to help refugees adapt to their new environment and to prevent their exploitation.
The statement lamented the erosion of the noble aims of the 1951 Refugee Convention “to assure refugees the widest possible exercise of their fundamental rights and freedoms” and called for the plight of the estimated 43 million refugees, asylum seekers and other forcibly displaced persons in the world today to be addressed.
Archbishop Tomasi pointed out that "Public opinion and political expediency have impacted the need for protection of asylum-seekers in a negative way" and criticised the treatment of asylum seekers, especially children, as if they were criminal prisoners. He urged the development of alternatives to detention and for the introduction of practical measures to help refugees adapt to their new environment and to prevent their exploitation.
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