The general secretary of the International Red Crossthe Nepalese Jagan Chapagain, warned that the irregular migratory flow “is increasing drastically” in Central America and Mexico and it is foreseeable that it will be impacted by the famine in Africawith an increase in people from that continent arriving in the region on their way to the United States.
For years, Central America has been a route for people on the move from all over the world heading to the United States, but at the same time its Northern Triangle (made up of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) is the origin of thousands of migrants seeking American “American Dream”.
A worrying growth
After a 2021 with the historical figure of more than 133 thousand migrants who passed through Panama, this year irregular migration increased by 85 percent in this countrywhich is the entrance to Central America through the dangerous Darien jungleborder with Colombia. In Honduras, irregular migration has grown this 2022 by 689 percent and in Mexico by 108 percentaccording to official figures cited by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC).
The majority of these migrants and refugees in transit come from Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti.. The citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico continue to leave their countries to the north, and at the same time they register a significant increase in returnees.
“The flow is increasing drastically” in the region in the framework of a “combination of problems” such as poverty, insecurity due to internal conflicts or violence, natural disasters and now the “devastating impact” of the covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukrainewhich “has given rise to an important movement of people” in the world, said Chapagain from Panama.
In this context, the Secretary General of the International Red Cross spoke of the food crisis in Africa, which is facing extreme climatic events that have caused the loss of crops in recent years and now, due to the conflict in Ukraine, is threatened by shortages of grains “This makes the hunger crisis have a massive impact, which makes us anticipate that the migration of people could grow. Their primary route would be to Europe, but we anticipate that they may also come to this part of the world (Central America), on their way to North America.“, he claimed Chapagain.
Regulate migratory routes
Chapagain visited this weekend a migratory reception station (ERM) in the province of Darién, one of the facilities of the Panamanian State where migrants who cross the dangerous border forest receive health care, food and biometric data are taken. “We saw people who were desperate for helpthere were many injured people (…) they were in line to get health and hygiene support. We also saw girls who had been sexually abused in the jungle, sexual exploitation. We hear that this is very common. Even people die in the jungle“, he recounted.
This reality makes it “vital” to provide people on the move with “predictable regulatory frameworks” that would reduce “the risk that they use irregular channels where they can be abused and exploited. These issues can be politically sensitive, but enabling regular channels could alleviate the suffering thousands,” Chapagain said. “It is very important that these regulatory frameworks favor humanitarian assistance for people on the move. And it is extremely important to depoliticize such humanitarian assistanceIt’s very important decriminalize itadded the Red Cross official.
Assistance to 210 thousand irregular migrants
Chapagain stressed that “the Red Cross is present in the countries of origin of the people who migrate, in those of transit and in those of destination,” so it can “provide humanitarian assistance along the entire migration route.” And in a context in which “it is inevitable that migration will continue to increase”, the IFRC has launched a emergency appeal of 29.2 million dollars to support 210 thousand people on the move during the next twelve months in Central America and Mexico.
The support will be provided through the network of 20 Red Cross Humanitarian Service Points in Central America and Mexico. These are neutral and safe spaces, whether fixed or mobile, in which health and mental health care, information and other services are provided, the IFRC said. The Red Cross response will prioritize care along the route, where most migrants and displaced people face bureaucratic barriers, hostile climates, stigma, discrimination, violence, insecurity and even death, the federation said. .
“It is vital to understand that when we talk about migration, the people we refer to as migrants are actually just people. If for whatever reason people decide to move to another country, when they do, all of us (governments, civil society , communities, humanitarian organizations) we must learn to treat them as human beings and provide them with humanitarian assistance,” said Chapagain.
The general secretary of the international red cross remembered that from 2020 the organization reached 4.8 million people with food assistance and non-food itemsarguing that for this historic moment, “urgent and massive action is needed to scale up life-saving assistance to millions of people on the brink of collapse, but also to decisively address the root causes of this crisis through longer-term commitments.” “.