Ms Saniya Karimova1
1University Of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Biography:
Saniya is a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), focusing on the human rights of migrants and refugees in Central America. She has experience as a research assistant at the UNSW Forced Migration Research Network, contributing to a project on gender commitments in the Global Compact on Refugees in Malaysia. Saniya remains actively involved with migrants through her volunteer role at the refugee and migrant centre.
Abstract:
Significant efforts to uphold the rights of migrants and refugees have been made in the last decade. The 2016 New York Declaration (NYD) for Refugees and Migrants, the first landmark document since the 1951 Refugee Convention, laid the groundwork for key international policy frameworks like the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration.
Additionally, the Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Migrants in Vulnerable Situations were developed to safeguard the human rights of migrants who are not recognised as refugees but face significant risks and vulnerabilities. However, this kind of categorisation is problematic as it often depends on the state’s political interests. For example, Venezuelans, one of the largest displaced groups in South America, are categorised as refugees in some Latin American countries and as vulnerable migrants in others.
Venezuelans make up approximately 70% of those crossing the Darien Gap, one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes between Colombia and Panama, where they face severe physical risks, exploitation, and abuse. In 2023, over half a million people crossed Darien, with Panama's border police receiving more than 2,000 migrants daily. This paper examines Panama's response to this migration crisis by critiquing its immigration and asylum policies against the aforementioned and other global and regional human rights frameworks. It also explores the politics of Panama’s migration law, analysing the reasons behind the categorisation of migrants as refugees, irregular or vulnerable migrants, and how this affects their human rights.