IACHR urges States to uphold their duty to provide effective protection for refugees

June 20, 2025

Washington, DC—On the occasion of World Refugee Day, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) calls on States across the Americas to continue strengthening their national asylum systems to ensure the effective protection of the rights of individuals in need of international protection.

By the end of December 2024, an estimated 123.2 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, or events that seriously disrupted public order, according to the latest data from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The data also show that 728,400 individual asylum applications were filed by people from Latin America and the Caribbean during the first half of 2024.

In this context, the IACHR expresses concern that some States in the Americas have adopted policies that undermine procedures for recognizing refugee status and negatively affect the full enjoyment of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, especially the human right to seek and receive asylum. While some efforts have been made to implement differentiated procedures for determining refugee status, bolster the capacity of national refugee commissions, and establish temporary and/or complementary protection mechanisms, many people across the Americas still lack access to the protection they need.

The IACHR has noted various factors influencing migration dynamics along various borders, including political factors, particularly in relation to voluntary and forced returns. Likewise, the IACHR is concerned by bilateral agreements signed between States to remove individuals of different nationalities—either to their countries of origin or habitual residence or to third countries—without clear information about applicable procedures, due process guarantees, or assessments of potential international protection needs.

In light of the increase in forced returns, deportations, and expulsions involving individuals with specific international protection needs, the IACHR emphasizes that the principle of non-refoulement is the cornerstone of refugee and asylum protection under international law. This principle has been recognized as a binding principle of customary international law and applies to all States regardless of whether a person entered the country via regular means or has passed through immigration control.

The IACHR therefore reiterates its call to suspend any deportation or expulsion when: i) there is a well-founded risk that the individual may face serious human rights violations in the country to which they are being returned or in a third country where such a risk exists; ii) access to asylum procedures or other forms of international protection has not been guaranteed; or iii) the conditions of return would expose individuals to violence, trafficking, exploitation, or other threats.

Finally, as part of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, the Chile Declaration and Plan of Action 2024–2034 was adopted in October 2024. This instrument reaffirms the importance of applying the Cartagena Declaration's broadened definition of refugee and aims to serve as a space for coordination, complementarity, cooperation, and convergence among existing regional and subregional mechanisms. Through the proposed follow-up mechanism, the Chile Declaration and Plan of Action can help achieve their stated goals and contribute to the full enjoyment of rights by individuals in need of international protection in the Americas.

The IACHR is a principal and autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate stems from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has the mandate to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the region and acts as an advisory body to the OAS on the matter. The IACHR is made up of seven independent members who are elected by the OAS General Assembly in their personal capacity, and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 125/25

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