United Nations human rights experts say President Trump’s temporary ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations is unlawful and could ultimately lead to torture for those affected.
“Such an order is clearly discriminatory,” they said in a statement Wednesday, according to Reuters. “[It is] based on one’s nationality, and leads to increased stigmatization of Muslim communities.”
“Recent U.S. policy on immigration also risks people being returned, without proper individual assessments and asylum procedures, to places in which they risk being subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, in direct contravention of international humanitarian and human rights laws which uphold the principle of non-refoulement,” they added.
{mosads}The U.N. experts added the Trump administration should not practice refoulement — the practice of forcing refugees back from where they came.
The independent experts included the U.N. special rapporteurs on migrants, Francois Crépeau, and racism, Mutuma Ruteere.
The other rapporteurs involved were human rights and counterterrorism expert Ben Emmerson, torture expert Nils Melzer and freedom of religion authority Ahmed Shaheed.
The group’s statement echoes U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who said Monday that detaining people on the basis of nationality is illegal.
Trump signed an executive order Friday imposing a 90-day ban on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen.
The measure also froze general refugee admissions into the U.S. for 120 days and halted the acceptance of Syrian refugees indefinitely due to Syria’s ongoing civil war.
Trump’s move has sparked global debate, with Democrats and human rights groups arguing it is unconstitutional and biased against Muslims.