IACHR and CMW: States must eradicate xenophobia against migrants

December 18, 2025

Washington, DC/Geneva—On International Migrants Day, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) call on States to step up efforts to adopt comprehensive policies aimed at eradicating xenophobia and addressing its impact on the rights of people in movement.

The IACHR and the CMW express their concern about the many ways xenophobia manifests and spreads, shaping migration policies and influencing how migrants are treated.

The rhetoric of public officials, political leaders, and media outlets, including social media and other digital platforms, is increasingly amplifying biased, inaccurate, stigmatizing, and exclusionary narratives that criminalize migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. The use of the term “illegal,” for example, reflects the persistent and unjustified association between criminality and irregular migration. In many countries, these narratives proliferate during election cycles and translate into discriminatory and exclusionary state policy proposals.

Policies grounded in such narrow, biased approaches, often designed exclusively from a security perspective, have a direct impact on multiple rights of people in movement. Moreover, these rights violations become even more severe due to intersectional discrimination factors such as gender, disability, migration status, ethnic or racial identity, sexual orientation, and other factors.

Examples of such policies include restricted access to visas and other regular migration pathways; increased use of arbitrary arrests; the creation of migration detention centers; and the implementation of procedures for the expulsion, detention, and return of migrants, as well as externalized border control that lacks basic due-process guarantees. In this context, a gradual increase in restrictions on the right to asylum and other protection mechanisms has also been observed.

Xenophobia also affects policies on economic, social, and cultural rights, including education, housing, employment, and social security. Through laws, regulations, and informal practices, some States restrict or deny these rights based on nationality, migration status, or type of residence.

The IACHR and the CMW warn that xenophobic narratives and migration policies reinforce one another in harmful ways. For example, they feed into and legitimize each other, creating a downward spiral that restricts the rights of people in movement. Given this panorama, States—and especially political leaders—have the obligation to counter intolerance, discrimination, and misinformation, and actively promote cultural understanding and respect for diversity. The IACHR and the CMW therefore call on States to adopt measures to eradicate xenophobia and its negative impact on human rights.

In particular, they recommend that States take the necessary measures to circulate and implement the recommendations developed by the CMW and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in their recent joint General Recommendation on eradicating xenophobia and its impact on migrants and others perceived as such. More broadly, the IACHR and the CMW urge States to apply the standards set out in the Inter-American Principles on the Human Rights of All Migrants, Refugees, Stateless Persons, and Victims of Human Trafficking.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

The CMW is the body of independent experts responsible for monitoring compliance with the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families by States Parties. It is composed of 14 independent experts elected by the States Parties who serve in their personal capacity.

No. 274/25

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