Amnesty International USA

Passed 117-27 by the Voting Plenary of the 2008 Annual General Meeting

[A] WHEREAS Amnesty International as a worldwide movement through the Integrated

Strategic Plan (ISP) has made the fight against discrimination one of its priorities

regardless of race, religion, social and economic background, country of origin, etc;

[B] WHEREAS AIUSA recognizes the sovereign right of states to control their borders,

AIUSA also recognizes that such sovereignty does not enable states to be passive in the

violation of or engage in the contradiction of international human rights standards, law,

and aspirations whatever the legal status of a migrant may be;

[C] WHEREAS current border policy in the United States uses “death as a deterrent” of

undocumented immigration and implicitly violates key articles of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights including articles 2, 3, and 7;

[D] WHEREAS undocumented migrants entering the United States are subject to a

variety of documented human rights abuses and brutal conditions, particularly in the

U.S.-Mexico border region;

[E] WHEREAS the U.S.-Mexico border region has been the location of an array of

documented migration-related human rights violations that include human smuggling,

personal injury, and over 3,000 deaths by some estimates;

[F] THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the AIUSA membership recommends that

AI complete, by January 1, 2011, a full and complete report regarding migration-related

human rights abuses in the U.S.-Mexico border region and the effects of US border

policy on such violations.

[G] THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, following the completion of

the aforementioned report, AIUSA will consider taking a public position on the United

States Government’s border policies and their effects on undocumented migrants

attempting to enter the United States.

[H] THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, following the completion of

the aforementioned report, AIUSA will use the recommendations of the report to

campaign and lobby against federal, state and local resolutions and bills that violate the

human rights or endanger the lives of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.