Today, IDA Senior Human Rights Advisor, Juan Ignacio Pérez Bello, delivered a statement on behalf of the Coalición México por los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad at the at the public Informal meeting with NGOs and NHRIs held by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, on the first day of its 40th session. This is the first time that IDA collaborates with a national umbrella OPD for engaging with this UN Treaty Body.
In this 40th session, the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families will:
- hold constructive dialogues with, and adopt Concluding Observations on, Jamaica, Mexico and Niger;
- adopt List of Issues on Tajikistan; and
- adopt List of Issues prior to reporting on Ecuador, Fiji and Guinea.
You find the program of work here. All public sessions will be webcasted by UN Web TV.
For this session, In coordination with IDA, the Coalición México por los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad submitted an alternative report focus on the human rights of migrants with disabilities, whether they acquired the impairment prior or during migration, which is available here.
In its statement, delivered by IDA's Senior Human Rights Advisor, the Coamex highlighted the "serious institutional weakening of the bodies in charge of disability and migration policies," including the "dissolution in September 2024, of the Secretariat for Migrants and International Liaison of the state of Guanajuato and the Guanajuato Institute for Persons with Disabilities (Ingudis) which, in coordination with UNHCR Mexico and Coamex, promoted comprehensive programmes and services for migrants and refugees with disabilities."
Coamex highlighted the egregious human rights violations and abuses, including torture and ill-treatment while in detention, faced by migrants with disabilities and other migrants, regarding their rights to liberty and to personal integrity, perpetrated even by Migration public authorities. Such violations can make survivors acquire impairments and become persons with disabilities, notably psychosocial disability, as shown by cases Coamex has documented.
Coamex also denounced the lack of a system to identify asylum seekers with disabilities, the lack of data collection and dissagregation by disability in the area of migration, the lack of accessibility and inclusiveness of administrative procedures and services that would facilitate access by migrants with disabilities to basic rights including health, education, etc., and the lack of procedural accommodation for persons with disabilities to ensure their access to justice.
Find the full statement in Spanish here. You can find the video here, starting at 1:21:00.
