• The UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk has voiced concern over the recent deportation of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States, particularly to third countries. 

• The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has received information that over 100 Venezuelan deportees are being detained at a notorious prison in El Salvador. 

• OHCHR said 142,000 people were deported from the US between January 20 and April 29 this year, according to official data.

• The fate and whereabouts of at least 245 Venezuelans and some 30 Salvadorans sent to El Salvador during the US President Donald Trump’s deportation drive remain unclear, it said. 

• Trump has invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport suspected members of criminal gangs.

• Many were deported under the Act as alleged members of criminal groups and have reportedly been detained at the Centre for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in the Central American country.

• Detainees at the maximum-security prison are treated particularly harshly, without access to legal counsel or family members and have no contact with the outside world.

• The reports indicate that many were not informed of the US government’s intention to deport them to be detained in a third country.

• Furthermore, many had no access to a lawyer and were unable to challenge the lawfulness of their removal before being flown out.

• Neither the US or Salvadoran authorities have published official lists of the detainees, and their legal status in El Salvador remains unclear. 

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

• The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) is the leading UN entity on human rights.

• The UN General Assembly established the OHCHR in December 1993.

The mission of the OHCHR is:

i) To work for the protection of all human rights for all people.

ii) To help empower people to realise their rights.

iii) To assist those responsible for upholding such rights in ensuring that they are implemented.

• The High Commissioner for Human Rights is the principal human rights official of the United Nations.

• The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is accountable to the Secretary-General and is responsible for all the activities of OHCHR, as well as for its administration.

• The High Commissioner is appointed by the Secretary-General of the UN and approved by the General Assembly, with due regard to geographical rotation for a fixed term of four years with a possibility of one renewal for another fixed term of four years.

• Volker Turk of Austria is the current High Commissioner for Human Rights, and took up his duties in October 2022.

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