GENEVA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- States of transit and destination are obliged to protect the human rights of Central American migrants regardless of their migration status, two UN expert committees on human rights said Friday as thousands trek through Mexico toward the United States.
"The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW), together with the Committee on the Rights of the Child, express serious concern about Central American migrants fleeing severe human rights violations in their home countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, which are plagued by poverty and violence," the UN human rights office said in a statement here.
The committees note the current trek through Mexico by thousands of men, women and children, including unaccompanied children, toward the United States in search of opportunity and safety.
The migrants, including men, women and children, are pressing on despite U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to close the border to prevent their entry.
The UN committees are also calling on the migrants' States of origin to address the severe human rights violations at home (which are drivers of irregular migration).
The committees are asking those countries to fully implement their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Protection of the Human Rights of All Migrant workers and Members of Their Families.
Their desperate attempt to improve their lives and those of their children has put enormous pressure on Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, as President Trump demands Mexican authorities take steps to stop the caravan's progress.
Mexico's government is recommending the migrants legalize their stay in the country by processing the required paperwork, and lawmakers have called on authorities to guarantee the migrants' human rights and attend to their needs.
On their way, they may fall victim to extortion by unscrupulous security officials and criminal smuggling gangs as well as the threat of robbery, sexual violence, and even death, said the committees.
The committees are also calling on the countries of transit and destination to respect human rights obligations at all border crossings, including the right to due process for all migrants regardless of status.
"States must respect the principle of non-refoulement as well as the prohibition on arbitrary and collective expulsion, and non-detention for migration-related offences," emphasized the chair of CMW, Ahmadou Tall.
Renate Winter, chair of the Child Rights Committee said, "The rights of child migrants have to be at the forefront of any migration response."
She noted that the key principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child should be the guiding principles of any migration policy regarding children.
