Social Work and Human Services

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Social Work and Human Services: Mr. Zamora’s Residency Hearing
Mr. Zamora based his application on “humanitarian and compassionate grounds” (Immigration and Refugee Board 7). The Canadian immigration authorities denied the request because of disqualifying aspects in Mr. Zamora’s background. Disqualification of Mr. Zamora is subjective because other than his military experience, there was no evidence of his violation of human rights.
The 1992 United Nations Truth Commission found that the Salvadoran army committed crimes against humanity. The crimes were spread out between the Salvadoran military and insurgent forces (Immigration and Refugee Board 9). Primarily, all armed personnel in the country, whether in the military or the insurgency, were responsible for the violations of human rights. Therefore, due to the definition of crimes against humanity and the application of these definitions to restrict immigration into Canada, the immigration authorities had a firm foundation to deny Mr. Zamora his application for permanent residence.
On the other hand, Mr. Zamora quit the army and sought refuge outside the country. First, he attempted to move to the United States after serving a compulsory military service (Immigration and Refugee Board 6). After failing, he enlisted in the army and gained two promotions in two years (Immigration and Refugee Board 6). However, he quit his position in the military, citing unwillingness to continue in the army.

He subsequently tried to secure citizenship and permanent residence in Canada, marrying a lifelong resident in the process (Immigration and Refugee Board 6). Here, Mr. Zamora was trying to get away from the military life in El Salvador. At the very least, his attempts show that whatever violations were taking place, Mr. Zamora was not willing to be part of the process. Therefore, he deserved more consideration.
Denial of residence will affect future cases because it sets a precedent of denying individuals residency based on their group membership rather than actions by the individual. For this reason, it is possible that Mr. Zamora had played an active role in violations of human rights. However, it is also clear that as an individual, he did not wish to participate in the exploitative processes.
 
Work Cited
Immigration and Refugee Board. Admissibility Hearing/Enquête Reasons and Decision Motifs ET Décision. Immigration Division, 2007.