Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
More than a dozen UN human rights experts have urged the Trump administration to halt its policy of deporting migrants to countries other than their own, warning that the practice is exposing vulnerable people to a heightened risk of torture, persecution and other abuses.
In a communication to the US government, the experts said at least 23,000 third-country nationals had already been deported to 29 countries and territories under arrangements struck by Washington. They warned that some of those deported had previously received protection from US judges who determined that they could face abuse if returned to their countries of origin.
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“The harms caused by this US Government scheme are no longer hypothetical,” the experts said, warning that the policy was triggering what they described as a “cascade of human rights violations.”
The Trump administration has reached agreements with several African governments and other countries to accept migrants whom the US cannot legally return to their home countries.
Rights groups have raised concerns over conditions in some of the countries receiving deportees. In Equatorial Guinea, for instance, police reportedly pulled firearms on migrants, while the Central African Republic has been receiving Iranian deportees.
The UN experts said children, women, people with disabilities, trafficking victims, LGBT people, human rights defenders and stateless persons were among those facing the gravest risks.
The communication was also sent to governments of 35 countries and territories that the experts said had entered agreements with Washington to accept deported migrants.
The US diplomatic mission to the UN in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Washington has previously defended the third-country deportation arrangements as lawful, maintaining that deportations are carried out in accordance with US immigration law.
US President Donald Trump has also asked the US Supreme Court to allow his administration to continue the policy after lower courts ruled that it was unlawful.
The UN experts are independent specialists appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to monitor and report on specific human rights situations. They are not employees of the UN itself.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
