Michelle Bachelet, "deeply touched" by the conditions of detention of migrants in the United States.

GENEVA (AFP) .- Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said
Today, we are "deeply touched" by the conditions of detention of migrants in the United States, stressing however that children should never be separated from their families.

"As a pediatrician, but also as a mother and former state official, I am deeply shocked by the fact that some children are forced to sleep on the floor in overcrowded premises without access to health care. nor adequate food and poor sanitary conditions, "said Michelle Bachelet. in a statement.

"Keeping a child, even for short periods and under good conditions, can have serious consequences for your health and development, and reflect on the damage done every day if this alarming situation continues."

"In most cases, migrants and refugees have ventured on dangerous journeys
their children in search of protection and dignity, far from violence and hunger. When they finally think that they have arrived safe and sound, they are separated from their loved ones and locked up in unworthy conditions, "Bachelet insisted," this should not happen anywhere. "

Several UN human rights organizations have warned that detention of migrant children could constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, prohibited by international law.

In May, 144,000 people were detained in detention centers by border police. But there is not enough space in these places or in reception centers where children and families are usually transferred.

"Last resort"

A report from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which controls the border police, admitted last week that there is a "dangerous overpopulation" in many shelters of illegal migrants, mostly central Americans fleeing the border. violence and misery his country.

For Bachelet, "any deprivation of liberty of migrants and adult refugees should be a measure of last resort".

"If the arrest took place, it should last as little as possible," he said, asking the authorities to find "non-custodial" measures for migrants and refugees.

The statement also states that staff sent by the High Commissioner to Mexico and Central America documented "numerous human rights violations and violations of the rights of migrants and refugees in transit".

According to the UN, these people are victims of excessive use of force, arbitrary privatization of freedom, separation from the family or arbitrary expulsions.

This criticism of the High Commissioner comes after the announcement by US President Donald Trump of the possibility for some journalists to access detention centers for migrants, whose precarious and overcrowded conditions have been criticized in recent days. .

"I will start showing some of these detention centers to the press, I want the press to come and see them," the president told reporters on Sunday.

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The New York Times and
El Paso Times On Saturday, they published an article describing a border patrol station in Clint, Texas, overflowing with hundreds of children dressed in dirty clothes and locked in cells full of illnesses. Trump called the text "disappointment".