America Violating the Rights of Refugees

The imprisonment of the immigrant separates the families of the immigrants, given that the children, women, and men are jailed in different prisons upon the prosecution. The freedom that they sought by entering America as refugees is no longer available. The hard policies against them have contributed to the violation of the human rights for these asylum seekers, who search for and are in need of humanitarian assistance from the American government.During the first week of adoption for the zero-tolerance policy on immigrants, passed by President Donald Trump, over 650 children were separated from their parents. Afterwards, the young children were taken to what were considered almost concentration camps, were Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents either kept them in cells or placed them in a foster family (The facts on Trump admin. zero-tolerance immigration policy, 2018). The United Nations organization have spoken up about their opinions on the matter and how they feel about the arrests and treatment towards refugees in America. The current regime in the US has turned their back on them, eliminating the refugee support systems eminent in the immigrant office (The US Must Not Turn Its Back On Refugees, 2018). The UN has indicated that the policy embraced by the US government is inhumane, given the fact that it destroys the family unit and place the children in cells or with other families that are not their own (Taking Migrant Children from Parents Is Illegal, U.N. Tells the U.S, 2018). The arrests of the immigrants separates kids from their parents and violates not only the rights of the children, but also the refugees seeking humanitarian help. A person who flees their home country because of war or persecution is perceived as a refugee in another country (What is a Refugee? Definition and Meaning | USA for UNHCR, n.d). Such a person qualifies to be awarded the rights and freedom entitled to asylum seekers. When a person is undocumented and claims to be a refugee, the host country ought to assist in filling out an application for asylum seeker status so that their ground of persecution and ultimate immigration is justified. Once that's done, some humanitarian assistance is of the essence for the immigrants who have just lost everything and risk their lives in order to have a chance at a new and better life. It has been noted that refugees are human beings and should thus not be subjected to policies that violate the very provisions of human rights. For example, refugees should not be subjected to torture or degrading treatment.

The preservation of human rights on an individual should be founded on the basic fact that they were born human beings. The refugees qualify to be awarded all human rights, on the same basis as any other person. One of the most relevant and important human rights clauses for the refugees is the rights to the freedom of expression and opinion, and that's the one they are violating the most and completely disregarding (Study Guide - The Rights of Refugees, n.d). The refugees ought to have their rights to freedom of thoughts, religion and conscience assured. Further, the rights to life, freedom, and liberty are fundamentally important for refugees to have. In addition, immigrants should not be discriminated against, no matter what country they are fleeing from. The refugee laws are well connected with human rights, hence any treatment that contravenes the international law of refugees also undermines their very basic human rights.

The international refugee law declares that no state shall return a refugee to a country or border where their life or rights are threatened as this is irrespective of their race, religion, or nationality, as well as their political stance. The instances where asylum seekers or refugees are arrested and detained for being undocumented imposes much more pain, psychological torture, and emotional stress. The immigrants ought to be granted rights and freedom just like any other citizen in a state. The international human rights treaty introduces the evolving rights of children, under the interpretation of the international human rights law, which states that as the child grows, they should be granted the responsibilities and rights to make independent decisions on matters touching their lives. The implication of this right of the children is taking into consideration the fact that young kids, such as toddlers, have no responsibility or ability to make decisions on a matter that pertains their lives. The immigrant's children are dependent on the decisions made by their parents or the elder members of their family. Toddlers have no understanding of the legal framework at hand, hence why the instances where they are put in cells is not only illegal but also inhumane.

Refugees are human beings and, as such, deserve to be treated in accordance with the standing laws. Just like other citizens, they are protected by a wide range of laws that define how they should be handled. Some of these important laws and documents regarding the treatment of refugees are the 1951 convention relating to the status of refugees, the popular universal declaration of human rights, the American declaration of the duties and rights of a man, and the convention of the rights of a child among others. The convention of the rights of a child states that under any legal consideration, whether before the court of law or any other unit, the interests of the child shall always be considered first, no matter what. This aspect has been found to be contradicted by the Zero-tolerance policy of the U.S government on refugees. By the very clause, the policy is deemed unlawful because it seeks to punish the parents so much, to an extent where the interests of the child are no longer taken into consideration due to the blind desire of penalizing the adults. Putting the toddlers in cells and even further away from their family is quite punitive on the innocent children, completely overlooking the whole point of the convention of the child.

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