Migrant crisis needs outside help

THE MIGRANT  crisis  facing Panama on the border with Costa Rica is spinning out of control  and authorities are  seeking  international assistance  based on respect for human rights.

James Bernard, former prosecutor, criminal lawyer and doctor of fundamental rights said on TVN 2 on Sunday  April 24, this situation is “a human drama that has come knocking on our doors.”

Panama  has been trying to cope with thousands of Cuban immigrants heading for the United  States, and has recently moved hundreds to a holding camp, while on the other side of the border there are over 500  African migrants with Panama riot police on the other side of the border  on standby to stop their entry.

According to the jurist people  habve  always moved and migration is part of the history of mankind, however, the traffic that of  both Africans and Cubans across our borders is a situation that demands the attention of all authorities.

This is a problem that demands a search for alternatives and an international approach. Panama must immediately contact and activate mechanisms with regional and global systems of human rights protection, ” said Bernard

He  said it is necessary to involve organizations such as the International Red Cross and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to handle this human drama, “because I think we do not have the immediate  capacity to attend to it ,” he added. Bernard.

Meanwhile, the director of the National Immigration Service Javier Carrillo stressed that the solution to this problem will have to be a regional decision, because “neither Panama nor any other country in the region will be able with that load permanently.”