A large crowd gathered to hear the speakers on the panel "Beyond national borders: migrants and refugees": Aurora Javate, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Philippines; Bridget Anderson, Kalayaan Network, Philippines; Jean François Olivier, Red Cross, Switzerland; Luiz Bassegio, Pastoral Centre for Migrants (Serviço Pastoral dos Migrantes), Brazil; Marie Racine, United States/Haiti; Mónica Santana, Cry of the Excluded, USA; Beatriz Withaker, Federation in Solidarity with Migrant Workers (Federação de Solidariedade com o Trabalhador Imigrante), Brazil; Te Arana, Asian Eviction Watch, Philippines.
The discussion focused on the protection of migrants' and refugees' rights, the lack of protective legislation and the failings of the humanitarian policies of various countries, the different situations suffered by populations displaced by conflict, the labour situation of migrants and refugees and the need for them to be able to access social benefits and public services.
These issues could not be separated from the current dominant economic policy and its effects on the poorest countries. Millions of people are part of this huge migratory flow and public policies and other measures, founded on respect for their inalienable human rights, must be put in place to receive them. However, the testimonies of several of the participants at the panel revealed that xenophobic, discriminatory and criminalizing policies are on the increase.
Several speakers argued that the notion of human rights is currently applied in a restricted manner, which must be broadened to include all people. In response to this need the Latin American Migrants Observatory has launched a campaign to demand guarantees of universal human rights.
It was also pointed out that neither the USA nor Europe have signed the United Nations Convention on migrant workers.
