December 5th (Reissued)

The 301 faith-based, non-governmental, and other civil society organizations listed below call on UN Member States to uphold, preserve, strengthen, and celebrate international refugee, human rights, and humanitarian treaties and reject efforts to undo or undermine legal norms.

In recognition of the inalienable human dignity of each person, States built a rules-based system to maintain peace and security and to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Multilateral refugee, humanitarian, and human rights treaties are central to the objectives enshrined in the UN charter, and essential to preventing and deterring conduct that harms people and threatens global stability and peace. Adherence to treaties has saved lives, upheld human dignity, and protected millions of people from persecution, torture and other human rights abuses.

Human rights treaties play a vital role in helping people live safely and protected where they are, reducing the conditions that lead to forced migration. The Refugee Convention, its Protocol and other agreements provide a foundation for states to host refugees and provide critical protection, thereby reducing onward displacement. Indeed, the substantial majority—over two- thirds—of refugees are already hosted in neighboring states and nearly three-fourths are hosted in low- and middle-income states.

Treaties and norms that protect people from persecution and other human rights abuses are more necessary than ever. Many of us have witnessed, day in and day out, how international treaties and law save lives and protect people from return to persecution, torture, and other serious human rights abuses. Indeed, the Refugee Convention and its Protocol have protected millions of people from persecution. The sad reality is that today’s global crises and mass displacements often stem from, or are exacerbated by, the failure to adhere to international human rights, refugee and humanitarian conventions and law.

We call on States to:

• Sign and/or deposit instruments of ratification or accession to human rights, refugee, and humanitarian treaties, and encourage other states to do so – including by welcoming those that do so during the UNGA Treaty Event and by marking the upcoming 75^th Anniversary of the Refugee Convention through acceding to the Refugee Convention and Protocol and encouraging other states to do so.
• Celebrate and affirm support for such treaties, and explain the ways they benefit people and states.
• Share steps taken to fulfill and honor commitments under treaties – such as enactment of implementing legislation, celebrating treaty commitments, measures taken in response to treaty body recommendations or UPR, or creating a national human rights institution. With respect to the Refugee Convention and its Protocol, share steps taken to strengthen asylum systems, support rights protection capacities, or increase cooperation through expanded resettlement and/or aid that helps enable other countries to host large numbers of refugees.
• Should there be any denunciations, withdrawals, or attempts to reject, “reform,” and/or replace such treaties with frameworks that deny people protection from persecution and human rights abuses, we call on states to express strong disagreement, reiterate support for such treaties, explain their benefits to human lives, peace, and stability, emphasize the negative impacts of actions that undermine such treaties, and urge reversal of such efforts.

Many people now safely living in countries around the world are the children and grandchildren of people who fled persecution and found refuge in other countries. Conversely, before states came together to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights treaties and the Refugee Convention and Protocol, millions were abandoned to suffer horrific fates. Too many continue to suffer due to the failures to uphold human rights and humanitarian norms.

At this critical crossroads, we call on states to work together and with civil society to strengthen—and reject efforts to undermine—the treaties and norms that protect people from persecution and other human rights abuses.

Signed:

• 11.11.11
• Acacia Center for Justice
• ACT Alliance
• Act for Peace
• Advocate Sunil Kumar Manchanda
• Al Otro Lado
• Alianza Americas
• Alliance San Diego
• Afrikajom Center
• Afrlca Migration Report Poetry
• Anthology Series
• ALO: Afghanistan LGBTIQ+ Organisation American Civil Liberties Union
• Amnesty International
• Amnesty Turku Local Group Amormigrant.org
• ANAR
• Angels Refugee Support Foundation (ARSF)
• Apatride Network
• Apoyo a Migrantes Venezolanos,
• A.C. Arrupe Refugee Center
• Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network [APRRN]
• Asociación de Nicaragüenses en México Asociación Pop No’j (Guatemala)
• ASOCIACIÓN PRO DERECHOS HUMANOS DE ESPAÑA
• Association for Legal Intervention (Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej), Poland
• AsyLex
• Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Australia Western Sahara Association
• AVAN Immigrant Services
• AVSI Foundation ETS
• Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust Bondeko Refugee Livelihoods Center
• Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR)
• Border Criminologies
• Boston University International Human Rights Clinic
• Burke PLLC
• CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development)
• Calais Food Collective
• Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers
• Canadian Council for Refugees
• Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW)
• Capital Rainbow Refuge
• Caritas Internationalis Casa Luz da Colina
• CCI Ottawa
• CAREF – Comisión Argentina para Personas Refugiadas y Migrantes
• CEDAW Rising
• CEICOS
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
• Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law Center for Legal Aid Voice in Bulgaria
• Center for Victims of Torture
• Center on Gender and Extreme Sentencing
• Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR-Centre)
• Centre for Research and Social Development IDEAS
• Centretown Community Health Centre
• Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad-Dejusticia (Colombia)
• Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
• Centro para la Observación Migratoria y el Desarrollo Social en el Caribe (OBMICA)
• Centre for Peace Studies, Croatia
• Child Rights Law Center, LLC
• Church World Service
• Climate Refugees
• Climate Rights & Justice International Inc
• Climate Rights International
• Clínica Jurídica Alaíde Foppa para Personas Refugiadas de la Universidad Iberoamericana
• Ciudad de México
• Coalición por Venezuela
• Coalition des Volontaires pour la Paix et le Développement, CVPD
• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
• Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP)
• CODHES COLOMBIA
• Colegio de Médicos y Cirujanos de Puerto Rico
• Comite dominicano de derechos humanos
• Comissão Episcopal para Migrantes, Refugiados e Deslocados (CEMIRDE)
• Community for Children, Org
• Community Legal Services of Ottawa (CLSO) | Services juridiques communautaires d’Ottawa (SJCO)
• COMMUNITY MIGRANT RESOURCE CENTRE
• Community World Service Asia
• Companion House Assisting Survivors of Torture and Trauma Conselho Indigenista Missionário CIMI
• COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale
• Corporación Humanas Chile – Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos y Justicia de Género Council for Global Equality
• Danish Refugee Council
• Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network
• Desiree Alliance
• Disability Justice Network of British Columbia (DJNBC)
• Disability Justice Network of Ontario
• DISABILITY PEOPLES FORUM UGANDA
• Drylands Learning And Capacity Building Initiative- DLCI
• Dutch Council for Refugees
• East African Centre for Forced Migration and Displacement
• East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
• Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
• Empower Youth Trust
• Encuentros Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes
• Equality Now
• European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)
• Fe y Alegría Venezuela
• Fe y Justicia
• Feminist Task Force
• Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
• Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma
• Foundation for the promotion of rights
• Franciscans International
• Francophonie Canadienne Plurielle (FRAP)
• Freedom Network USA
• Fundación Alfredo Molano Bravo
• Fundación Crea Tu Espacio Fundación Refugiados Unidos
• Gargaar Relief and Development Organization (GREDO)
• Global Birthing Home Foundation
• Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights
• Global Detention Project
• Global Justice Center
• Global Justice Clinic, Western New England University School of Law
• Global Refuge
• Global Strategic Litigation Council
• Groupe d’Appui au Développement et à la Démocratie (GRADE)
• Grupo Articulador de Organizaciones Lideradas por Personas Refugiadas y Desplazadas Forzadas en Latinoámerica y el Caribe (GARLOS)
• Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
• Hawai’i Institute for Human Rights
• Healing Bridges
• Help Himalayan Youth Foundation Inc
• HelpAge International
• Hemispheric Network for Haitian Migrants’ Rights (Rezo Emisferik pou Dwa Migran Ayisyen)
• HIAS
• Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope
• Ho’opae Pono Peace Project
• House of Welcome
• Human Rights Cities Alliance
• Human Rights First
• Human Rights House Foundation
• ILGA World
• Immigrant Defenders Law Center
• Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
• Independent Diplomat
• Insan Association- Defending Human Rights
• Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
• Institute for the Sustainable Development of Lenca Women in Honduras (IDESMULH)
• Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI)
• Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos
• Inter-Free
• International Association for Human Rights Advocacy in Geneva (IAHRAG)
• International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC)
• International Commission of Jurists
• International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
• International Detention Coalition IDC
• International Mayan League
• International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)
• International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)
• International Service for Human Rights
• Ipas US
• Irish Refugee Council
• Islamic Relief Kenya Office
• Jesuit Refugee Service
• Jesuit Social Center (Tokyo)
• Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice
• JFCS East Bay
• Journey Home Community Association
• Just Detention International
• Justice for Refugees SA
• Justice in Motion
• JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF)
• Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
• Kilómetro 0
• Kinbrace Community Society La Ruta del Clima
• Le Pont – A.P.P.I.
• Last Mile4D
• Latin America/Caribbean Committee – Loretto Community
• Lawyers for Good Government
• Lebanese Center for Human Rights – CLDH
• Liminality Research Consortium
• Lutheran World Federation MADRE
• Manchester City of Sanctuary
• Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
• Matthew House Ottawa
• Methoria
• Migrant Working Group (MWG)
• Migration Institute of Australia
• Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI)
• Mosaic Multicultural Connections
• MPower Change Action Fund
• National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group Australia
• Nationality For All (NFA)
• New Women Connectors
• Newcomer Legal Clinic – Lakehead University
• Norwegian Refugee Council
• Oasis Legal Services
• OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
• Open Doors
• Overseas Services to Survivors of Torture and Trauma
• Oxfam
• Pacific Migration Partners
• PacificwinPacific
• Partners In Health
• Pax Christi International
• Pax Christi USA
• Pegasus Institute
• People Serving People Foundation
• Perkumpulan Suaka Untuk Perlindungan Hak Pengungsi (SUAKA)
• Physicians for Human Rights
• Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance
• Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants – PICUM
• Portland Central America Solidarity Committee
• Programa Casa Refugiados
• Project Play France
• Protection International
• Pro Iura
• Promotoras de Derechos en la Migración
• Puntland Minority Women Development Organization
• Quaker United Nations Office
• Quixote Center
• Rainbow Railroad
• Rainbow Refugee Society
• Red Jesuita con Migrantes Latinoamerica y el Caribe (RJM LAC)
• Refugee 613
• Refugee Action Campaign Canberra
• Refugee Advocacy Lab
• Refugee Communities Advocacy Network NSW
• Refugee Communities Association of Australia Inc
• Refugee Congress
• Refugee Consortium of Kenya
• Refugee Council of Australia
• Refugee Council USA
• Refugee Legal
• Refugee Solidarity Network
• Refugees as Survivors NZ
• Refugees in Libya
• Refugees International
• Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table (R-SEAT)
• RefugePoint
• Regroupement des organismes en hébergement pour personnes migrantes (ROHMI)
• Resilient40
• Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
• Rohingya Youth Union-RYU
• Rohingya Youths Support Network (RYSN)
• Rose Lokissim Association
• Rural Australians for Refugees
• Rural Australians for Refugees Southern Highlands
• Safe Passage International
• SAISIA – Saskatchewan Association of Immigrants Settlement and Integration Agencies
• Same Skies
• Santa Clara Law – International Human Rights Clinic
• Save the Children International
• SCALES Community Legal Centre
• Secours Islamique France (SIF)
• Secretariat of the Civil Society Action Committee
• Senior Advocacy Network
• Settlement Services International (SSI)
• Sin Fronteras IAP
• Social Change Institute Society of Jesus in Belize
• Somali Diaspora in Deutschland (SOMDID) e.V.
• South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
• STARTTS
• Stichting Vluchteling
• Study and Research Centre on Environmentally Displaced Persons (NEPDA)
• Survivors of Torture and Trauma Assistance and Rehabilitation
• Service Sussex Centre for Migration Research
• Sydney Multicultural Community
• Services Synergies Migrations
• Synergy for Justice
• Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes
• Tahirih Justice Center
• Thailand Migration Reform Consortium (TMR)
• The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice
• The Global Centre for Social Justice and Advocacy Leadership
• The GOOD Group
• The Legal Resources Centre The Tasmania Opportunity
• The Workers Circle
• U.S. Campaign for Burma
• U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Uganda Eyenkya Development Project Group
• Uniāo Social dos Imigrantes Haitianos (USIH)
• Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)
• VECINA
• VOICE
• Voices in Dialogue
• Washington Brazil Office
• Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
• Welcome Collective (Le Collectif Bienvenue)
• Western States Center
• West African Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons Network
• Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center
• Women in Migration Network (WIMN)
• Women’s All Points Bulletin WAPB
• Women’s Link Worldwide
• Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network
• Women’s Refugee Commission
• World’s Youth for Climate Justice
• Zambian Civil Liberties Union (ZCLU)
• Zamzam Foundation