The Government repealed a decree this Friday under the chairmanship of Mauricio Macri on immigration policy, understanding that this rule “is irreconcilable with the Constitution and the international system for the protection of human rights”, a measure that was endorsed by Amnesty International (AI) and the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS). Decree 138 published in the Official Gazette with the signature of President Alberto Fernández and the ministers of his Cabinet repeals Decree 70/2017, which amended aspects of Law 25.871 establishing the immigration policy regime. Through a statement, Amnesty International supported the official determination that the repealed decree “violated the human rights of migrants and became a milestone in the decline in Argentine migration policy.” From minute one, there was a wide mobilization of civil society and multiple complaints were made against Argentina by international bodies”, Télam was told by the Director of International Policy and Justice of AI Argentina, Mariana Fountoura Marques.La new regulations, restoring “the validity of the rules amended, replaced or repealed by Decree 70” and creates a “Immigration Policy Advisory Commission that will propose non-binding measures related to the implementation and updating of the Migration Act 25,871”. CelS also supported the decision by considering it to be “a fundamental step in ensuring more equal rights, the right to migrate and the state’s obligation to regularize”.
“UND 70/2017 marked a clear setback in migrant rights over the past four years and was part of a social exclusion policy that directly linked migrants to the crime commission and argued that this is why they had to be expelled immediately,” CELS said on their Twitter account.
✅Celebrate the Executive Branch’s decision to repeal UND 70/2017, the implementation of which meant a clear setback in the rights of migrants in the country over the past four years. https://t.co/ybMn4mtYQw
— CELS (@CELS_Argentina)
March 5, 2021
In addition, the repealed decree “meant a shift in Argentina’s role at the regional and global levels since the Migration Act in 2004” and “was part of a trend that increased the discretion of States to control, detain and expel migrants,” they said since CELS.
