The ICJ has joined over 250 civil society organizations in the following open letter urging UN member states to uphold, preserve and strengthen international refugee, human rights and humanitarian treaties, and to reject efforts to undo or undermine legal norms.
Upholding Not Undermining International Law
Civil Society Open Letter to States (September 2025)
The 268 faith-based, non-governmental, and other civil society organizations listed below call on UN Member States to uphold, preserve, strengthen, and celebrate international refugee, human rights, and humanitarian treaties and reject efforts to undo or undermine legal norms.
In recognition of the inalienable human dignity of each person, States built a rules-based system to maintain peace and security and to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms. Multilateral refugee, humanitarian, and human rights treaties are central to the objectives enshrined in the UN charter, and essential to preventing and deterring conduct that harms people and threatens global stability and peace. Adherence to treaties has saved lives, upheld human dignity, and protected millions of people from persecution, torture and other human rights abuses.
Human rights treaties play a vital role in helping people live safely and protected where they are, reducing the conditions that lead to forced migration. The Refugee Convention, its Protocol and other agreements provide a foundation for states to host refugees and provide critical protection, thereby reducing onward displacement. Indeed, the substantial majority—over two-thirds—of refugees are already hosted in neighboring states and nearly three-fourths are hosted in low- and middle-income states.
Treaties and norms that protect people from persecution and other human rights abuses are more necessary than ever. Many of us have witnessed, day in and day out, how international treaties and law save lives and protect people from return to persecution, torture, and other serious human rights abuses. Indeed, the Refugee Convention and its Protocol have protected millions of people from persecution. The sad reality is that today’s global crises and mass displacements often stem from, or are exacerbated by, the failure to adhere to international human rights, refugee and humanitarian conventions and law.
We call on States to:
● Sign and/or deposit instruments of ratification or accession to human rights, refugee, and humanitarian treaties, and encourage other states to do so – including by welcoming those that do so during the UNGA Treaty Event and by marking the upcoming 75th Anniversary of the Refugee Convention through acceding to the Refugee Convention and Protocol and encouraging other states to do so.
● Celebrate and affirm support for such treaties, and explain the ways they benefit people and states.
● Share steps taken to fulfill and honor commitments under treaties – such as enactment of implementing legislation, celebrating treaty commitments, measures taken in response to treaty body recommendations or UPR, or creating a national human rights institution. With respect to the Refugee Convention and its Protocol, share steps taken to strengthen asylum systems, support rights protection capacities, or increase cooperation through expanded resettlement and/or aid that helps enable other countries to host large numbers of refugees.
● Should there be any denunciations, withdrawals, or attempts to reject, “reform,” and/or replace such treaties with frameworks that deny people protection from persecution and human rights abuses, we call on states to express strong disagreement, reiterate support for such treaties, explain their benefits to human lives, peace, and stability, emphasize the negative impacts of actions that undermine such treaties, and urge reversal of such efforts.
Many people now safely living in countries around the world are the children and grandchildren of people who fled persecution and found refuge in other countries. Conversely, before states came together to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights treaties and the Refugee Convention and Protocol, millions were abandoned to suffer horrific fates. Too many continue to suffer due to the failures to uphold human rights and humanitarian norms.
At this critical crossroads, we call on states to work together and with civil society to strengthen—and reject efforts to undermine—the treaties and norms that protect people from persecution and other human rights abuses.
Signed:
11.11.11
Acacia Center for Justice
ACT Alliance
Act for Peace
Advocate Sunil Kumar Manchanda
Al Otro Lado
Alianza Americas
Alliance San Diego
American Civil Liberties Union
Amnesty International
Amnesty International Australia
Amormigrant.org
ANAR
Apatride Network
Apoyo a Migrantes Venezolanos, A.C.
Arrupe Refugee Center
Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network [APRRN]
Asociación de Nicaragüenses en México
Asociación Pop No’j (Guatemala)
ASOCIACIÓN PRO DERECHOS HUMANOS DE ESPAÑA
Association for Legal Intervention (Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej), Poland
AsyLex
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
Australia Western Sahara Association
AVAN Immigrant Services
AVSI Foundation ETS
Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust
Bondeko Refugee Livelihoods Center
Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR)
Boston University International Human Rights Clinic
Burke PLLC
CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development)
Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers
Canadian Council for Refugees
Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW)
Capital Rainbow Refuge
Caritas Internationalis
Casa Luz da Colina
CCI Ottawa
CEDAW Rising
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Center for Legal Aid Voice in Bulgaria
Center for Victims of Torture
Center on Gender and Extreme Sentencing
Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR-Centre)
Centre for Research and Social Development IDEAS
Centretown Community Health Centre
Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad-Dejusticia (Colombia)
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
Centro para la Observación Migratoria y el Desarrollo Social en el Caribe (OBMICA)
Church World Service
Climate Refugees
Climate Rights International
Coalición por Venezuela
Coalition des Volontaires pour la Paix et le Développement, CVPD
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP)
CODHES COLOMBIA
Colegio de Médicos y Cirujanos de Puerto Rico
Comite dominicano de derechos humanos
Community for Children, Org
Community Legal Services of Ottawa (CLSO) | Services juridiques communautaires d’Ottawa (SJCO)
COMMUNITY MIGRANT RESOURCE CENTRE
Community World Service Asia
Companion House Assisting Survivors of Torture and Trauma
Conselho Indigenista Missionário CIMI
COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale
Council for Global Equality
Danish Refugee Council
Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network
Desiree Alliance
Disability Justice Network of British Columbia (DJNBC)
Disability Justice Network of Ontario
DISABILITY PEOPLES FORUM UGANDA
Drylands Learning And Capacity Building Initiative- DLCI
Dutch Council for Refugees
East African Centre for Forced Migration and Displacement
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
Empower Youth Trust
Encuentros Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes
Equality Now
European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)
Fe y Alegría Venezuela
Fe y Justicia
Feminist Task Force
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma
Foundation for the promotion of rights
Franciscans International
Francophonie Canadienne Plurielle (FRAP)
Freedom Network USA
Fundación Crea Tu Espacio
Fundación Refugiados Unidos
Gargaar Relief and Development Organization (GREDO)
Global Birthing Home Foundation
Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights
Global Detention Project
Global Justice Center
Global Justice Clinic, Western New England University School of Law
Global Refuge
Global Strategic Litigation Council
Groupe d’Appui au Développement et à la Démocratie (GRADE)
Grupo Articulador de Organizaciones Lideradas por Personas Refugiadas y Desplazadas Forzadas en Latinoámerica y el Caribe (GARLOS)
Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
Hawai’i Institute for Human Rights
Healing Bridges
Help Himalayan Youth Foundation Inc
HelpAge International
Hemispheric Network for Haitian Migrants’ Rights (Rezo Emisferik pou Dwa Migran Ayisyen)
HIAS
Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope
Ho’opae Pono Peace Project
House of Welcome
Human Rights Cities Alliance
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights House Foundation
ILGA World
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
Independent Diplomat
Insan Association- Defending Human Rights
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Institute for the Sustainable Development of Lenca Women in Honduras (IDESMULH)
Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI)
Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos
International Association for Human Rights Advocacy in Geneva (IAHRAG)
International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC)
International Commission of Jurists
International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
International Detention Coalition IDC
International Mayan League
International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)
International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)
International Service for Human Rights
Ipas US
Islamic Relief Kenya Office
Jesuit Refugee Service
Jesuit Social Center (Tokyo)
Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice
JFCS East Bay
Journey Home Community Association
Just Detention International
Justice for Refugees SA
Justice in Motion
JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF)
Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
Kilómetro 0
Kinbrace Community Society
La Ruta del Clima
Last Mile4D
Latin America/Caribbean Committee – Loretto Community
Lawyers for Good Government
Lutheran World Federation
MADRE
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Matthew House Ottawa
Migrant Working Group (MWG)
Migration Institute of Australia
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI)
Mosaic Multicultural Connections
MPower Change Action Fund
National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group Australia
Nationality For All (NFA)
New Women Connectors
Newcomer Legal Clinic – Lakehead University
Norwegian Refugee Council
Oasis Legal Services
OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
Open Doors
Overseas Services to Survivors of Torture and Trauma
Oxfam
Pacific Migration Partners
PacificwinPacific
Partners In Health
Pax Christi International
Pax Christi USA
People Serving People Foundation
Perkumpulan Suaka Untuk Perlindungan Hak Pengungsi (SUAKA)
Personal
Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance
Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants – PICUM
Portland Central America Solidarity Committee
Programa Casa Refugiados
Promotoras de Derechos en la Migración
Puntland Minority Women Development Organization
Quaker United Nations Office
Quixote Center
Rainbow Railroad
Rainbow Refugee Society
Red Jesuita con Migrantes Latinoamerica y el Caribe (RJM LAC)
Refugee 613
Refugee Action Campaign Canberra
Refugee Advocacy Lab
Refugee Communities Advocacy Network NSW
Refugee Communities Association of Australia Inc
Refugee Congress
Refugee Consortium of Kenya
Refugee Council of Australia
Refugee Council USA
Refugee Legal
Refugee Solidarity Network
Refugees as Survivors NZ
Refugees in Libya
Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table (R-SEAT)
RefugePoint
Resilient40
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Rohingya Youth Union-RYU
Rohingya Youths Support Network (RYSN)
Rose Lokissim Association
R-SEAT
Rural Australians for Refugees
Rural Australians for Refugees Southern Highlands
Safe Passage International
SAISIA – Saskatchewan Association of Immigrants Settlement and Integration Agencies
Same Skies
Santa Clara Law – International Human Rights Clinic
Save the Children International
SCALES Community Legal Centre
Secours Islamique France (SIF)
Secretariat of the Civil Society Action Committee
Settlement Services International (SSI)
Sin Fronteras IAP
Social Change Institute
Society of Jesus in Belize
Somali Diaspora in Deutschland (SOMDID) e.V.
South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
STARTTS
Stichting Vluchteling
Survivors of Torture and Trauma Assistance and Rehabilitation Service
Sydney Multicultural Community Services
Synergies Migrations
Synergy for Justice
Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes
Tahirih Justice Center
Thailand Migration Reform Consortium (TMR)
The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice
The Global Centre for Social Justice and Advocacy Leadership
The GOOD Group
The Legal Resources Centre
The Tasmania Opportunity
The Workers Circle
U.S. Campaign for Burma
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Uganda Eyenkya Development Project Group
Uniāo Social dos Imigrantes Haitianos (USIH)
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)
US Citizen
VECINA
VOICE
Voices in Dialogue
Washington Brazil Office
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Western States Center
Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center
Women in Migration Network (WIMN)
Women’s All Points Bulletin WAPB
Women’s Link Worldwide
Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network
Women’s Refugee Commission
World’s Youth for Climate Justice
Zambian Civil Liberties Union (ZCLU)
Zamzam Foundation
