• Goal

To develop a, through this Regional Seminar, Declaration of Principles of Minimum Standards and Procedures of Detention, Deportation/Expulsion, and Reception of Migrants which would establish basic points of reference for the human rights and dignity of migrants in these situations.

• Tentative date and location
  • The first two weeks of November 2000
  • In a Central American country

• Necessary cooperation mechanisms
  We invite the cooperation of the governments involved in the Regional Conference on Migration in the following ways:
• Allowing access to detention and deportation centers and the statistics related to the migration phenomenon.
• Sharing information on the current institutional practices and procedures of detention, deportation, and reception of migrants.

• Preparatory work:

Before the regional seminar, it is necessary to have a regional vision of the current practices of detention, deportation, and reception of migrants. In order to do that, the RNCOM will coordinate and carry out the following activities:

• National surveys
• Regional survey

Methodology

National surveys

• The design and development of general guidelines for the national surveys (the specific mechanisms to be implemented).
• Process of capacity building and standardizing of the criteria at a regional level.
• The application of these mechanisms through fieldwork (monitoring/observation/interviews/polls, etc).
• Analysis of information, development of general indicators, and evaluation of the achievements of the current practices and procedures of detention, deportation, and reception of migrants.

Regional survey

A regional survey will be developed based on information gathered through the national surveys and supported by additional studies, for example information on the legal framework of each country.

Declaration of Principles of Minimum Standards and Procedures of Detention, Deportation, and Reception of Migrants

The findings of the national and regional surveys will be presented at the regional seminar. Based on the surveys and the principles in the international mechanisms for human rights protection, a General Declaration will be formulated that will serve as the framework for the implementation of minimum standards and procedures.

The RNCOM proposes that the regional seminar and the achievements of the seminars’ goals be the product of a coordinated effort of the governments of each country involved in the Regional Conference on Migration and the Regional Network of Civic Organizations for Migration.