World IN BRIEF : MEXICO : Conference Supports Migrants’ Rights

The United States, Canada and eight Latin American nations pledged to defend migrants’ rights and protect them from violence, xenophobia and traffickers. Participants in the Regional Conference on Migration in Puebla condemned violations of migrants’ human rights and promised to “respect their dignity.” The conference marked the first time that the United States, concerned by a rising tide of illegal immigration, and Latin American nations have discussed the problem in a regional context. The conference concluded that, “by and large, migration is a beneficial phenomenon” but that “it is essential that migration be orderly.”