Geneva Conventions Signatory States Fail To Provide Effective Access To Migrants - IFRC

Geneva Conventions Signatory States Fail to Provide Effective Access to Migrants - IFRC

Signatories of the Geneva Conventions are failing to provide sufficient access to migrants for national societies of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), as required by a 2011 resolution, Tiziana Bonzon, the IFRC migration and displacement lead, said at a panel session of the "Migration and International Law" conference on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2018) Signatories of the Geneva Conventions are failing to provide sufficient access to migrants for national societies of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), as required by a 2011 resolution, Tiziana Bonzon, the IFRC migration and displacement lead, said at a panel session of the "Migration and International Law" conference on Thursday.

The fourth international conference titled "Migration and International Law" is being held in Moscow on September 19-21. The conference coincides with an informal meeting of the EU heads of state and government devoted to, among other issues, migration, which is taking place in the Austrian city of Salzburg on September 19-20.

"The states party to the Geneva Conventions have actually committed [within the framework of the IFRC] to ensure that laws and procedures are in place for national societies to enjoy effective and safe access to all migrants without discrimination ... Despite the states who are party to the Geneva convention signed this resolution in 2011, this access is still unfortunately not happening as we would like to see," Bonzon said.

In 2011, the nations which signed the Geneva Conventions pledged in a resolution signed at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent to establish a legal framework and procedures needed to ensure effective and safe access to migrants "without discrimination and irrespective of their legal status." According to the IFRC's July report, such conditions have been established, in particular, by authorities in Belgium, Italy, Mexico and Niger.