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This Universal Children's Day sign-on letter was sent to Congress and the Administration on 11/20/07 on behalf of the undersigned organizations and individuals.
Protecting the Most Vulnerable: A Call to Action On Behalf of Detained Children
Universal Children’s Day is a time to celebrate the promise of children across the globe. It is a time for governments to affirm their commitment to the rights and protections that allow children to reach their full potential.
In the spirit of Universal Children’s Day, we call on the United States and the international community to take immediate steps to address a growing scourge on the international system—the detention of migrant children, including asylum seekers. Many of these children are unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. They may have fled to escape persecution, gang violence, family abuse or trafficking. They are among the most vulnerable children in the world and they need urgent protection.
Consistent with international law and standards, governments should refrain from detaining migrant children. If children are detained, governments should ensure that it is only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time. In those exceptional circumstances where it is necessary to detain children, governments must ensure that children are placed in living quarters suitable for children and that they receive the necessary services, including health care, education and legal assistance.
The U.S should be a model for the international community on the protection of migrant children. But our country falls unacceptably short on this score. To reform our own system and to set an example for the international community, the Administration and Congress must act now to:
--Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
--Support and fully fund alternatives to detention programs so that the detention of migrant children and families with children is a measure of last resort and only for the most exceptional circumstances.
--Ensure that the Department of Homeland Security immediately transfers unaccompanied migrant children to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.
-- Ensure that children who must be detained or held in custody are held in the least restrictive setting appropriate for their needs and circumstances.
--Ensure that the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency provides timely public information on the number of children in ICE detention and the location of facilities where they are being held.
--Provide children in immigration detention or custody with legal services, including pro bono counsel, and with a guardian who will ensure that any decisions made are in the best interests of the child.
--Ensure that children in immigration detention or custody receive appropriate services including education and medical and mental health care.
This Call to Action is endorsed by the following organizations and individuals working to protect vulnerable children:
Organizations:
Africans In Milwaukee Inc.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Friends Service Committee
Amnesty International USA
Arab American and Chaldean Council
Arab American Community Coalition
Benedictine Sisters of Baltimore
Breakthrough: building human rights culture
Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition
Casa de Esperanza
Center for Victims of Torture
Chaldean Federation of America
Church World Service
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
El Pueblo, Inc.
Episcopal Migration Ministries
FaithAction International House
First Friends: Elizabeth Detention Center Visitors Program
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center
Freedom House
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
Hispanic Development Corporation
Homies Unidos
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Interfaith Refugee Action Team - Elizabeth (IRATE)
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA
Korean American Resource & Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Korean Resource Center, Los Angeles, CA
Kurdish Human Rights Watch, Inc
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, El Paso
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), Los Angeles, CA
NC Justice Center, Raleigh, NC
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
NYSDA Immigrant Defense Project
Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center
Physicians for Human Rights
Political Asylum Project of Austin
Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project
Public Counsel
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN)
School Sisters of Notre Dame - Global Justice & Peace Commission
South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
St. Joseph Social Service Center
St. Matthew Immigration/Detention Committee
Survivors of Torture, International
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
United Methodist Immigrant Center
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Washington Defender Association's Immigration Project
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
World Relief
YKASEC - Empowering the Korean American Community, Flushing, NY
Individuals (organizations listed for identification purposes only):
Alexsa M. Alonzo, Miami, Florida
Jorgelina E. Araneda, J.D., LL.M., Board Certified Specialist, Immigration Law, Araneda Law Firm, P.C.
LaVonne R. Bayer
Lois Bernbeck
Stephen L. Boehrer
Char Brandl, Madison, WI
Sr. Sally Ann Brickner, Director, Peace and Justice Center
Kathleen A. Brisky
Ms. MacCanon Brown
Mary Campbell, New Berlin, Wisconsin
Mandy Carter, Durham, North Carolina
Michael R Cascio
Dana Chou, Associate Director for Family Reunification & Preservation
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Maria Lorena Cook, Associate Professor, Department of International and Comparative Labor, Department of Collective Bargaining, Labor Law, and Labor History
Patrick Delves, Student, Santa Clara University
Elizabeth DeWitt, Flushing, NY
Mrs. Mary Ann Doll
Rita J. Erickson
Chris Freeburg, Santa Clara University
Frances Geteles, PH.D, Clinical Psychologist
Matt Gossage, Austin, TX
Sarah Harden
Frances Hoffman, O.P.
Daniel Idzikowski, JD, Assistant Dean for Public Service, Marquette University Law School
Mary G. Jenny, Madison, Wisconsin
Sister Josephe Marie Flynn, SSND
John C. Keller, Executive Director, Legal Supervisor, Immigrant Law Center of MN / Oficina Legal
Lily Keber, Mairzy Doats Productions
Ruth Kolpack
Teresa M. Lee, New Berlin, WI
Carol Lesch, SSND
Ruth López, La Raza Justice Movement, Houston, TX
Christiana Lundholm
Hope Marasco, Durham, NC
Joan M. Maruskin, Executive Director, York County Council of Churches
Rev. Mark D. McGregor, S.J., Lecturer and Bannan Fellow, Santa Clara University
Patrick McIlmoyle, Durham, NC
Linda H. Murphy
Christopher Nugent, Holland & Knight LLP, pro bono counsel to Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
John A. Paar, M.D.
Greg Pleasants, Equal Justice Works Fellow, Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc.
Wanda M. Ramirez
Jane Rudd, Ph.D.
Lupe Sanchez
Luissana Santibañez, Immigrant Rights Community Organizer, Grassroots Leadership, Austin TX
Marie L. Seckar, Madison, WI
Agnes Schneider, Racine, WI
Michelle Schuerman, Milwaukee, WI
Maureen C. Skaleski
Katherine Soult, Student, Santa Clara University
Rev. Linda Theophilus, Pastor, Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Eastmont
Patricia Trevino
Joseph A. Vail, University of Houston Law Center, Immigration Clinic
Ruth A. Vonderberg
Kenneth E. Vonderberg
Scott Joseph Vonderberg
Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Immigration Attorney and Advocate, Adjunct Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law, Washington College of Law at American University
Amy Weismann, J.D., Deputy Director, UI Center for Human Rights (UICHR), University of Iowa
William Westerman, Ph.D.
Stephanie Wilson, Student, Santa Clara University
