Up to three UN agencies are deployed in Chiapas in response to the increase in the migrant population

UN works to improve living conditions of migrants and local populations in Mexico

photo_camera Luis Arroyo/CINU México - A group of people cross the Suchiate River on a raft at the Chiapas-Guatemala border, Mexico in November 2021.

Natalia fled her country with her children because their lives were in danger. After crossing the southern border of Mexico, she ran out of resources to survive. Today, the UN refugee agency is providing her with a safe place to live with her children, and they are all receiving psychological care.

Like her, many people have found life-saving information or a home in shelters and institutions working with UN agencies in Mexico.

At the moment, three UN entities, the Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), are working in Tapachula, in Chiapas, to support local populations and the mixed migratory flows that pass through that area of the country.

onu-mexico

The UN in Mexico provides this support by accompanying national authorities such as the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR), the National Migration Institute (INM) and also the government of the municipality of Tapachula.

As of July 2021, Tapachula accounted for 70% of the applications for refugee status. In addition, this border city receives daily flights of people expelled from the United States.

"One of the focuses is on how this type of assistance really becomes an accompaniment that guarantees the rights of migrants and people seeking refuge, in the most humane way possible," explained Peter Grohmann, the Organisation's highest representative in Mexico.

The coordination of the work of the United Nations agencies with federal, state and municipal government authorities makes it possible to attend to both local populations and those on the move.

onu-mexico
 An indispensable task

For UNICEF Representative in the country, Luis Fernando Carrera Castro, this joint work is indispensable.

"This impact is reflected in improving the living conditions of the population, allowing them to have access to services that they would not otherwise have, such as food, shelter, education and health, and creating conditions to protect their human and legal rights vis-à-vis the Mexican State," added Mr. Carrera.

Dana Graber Ladek, Head of Mission of the International Organization for Migration in Mexico, said that this agency promotes a model to provide alternatives for migratory regularisation, assistance and reliable information to the migrant population that allows them to make the best decisions.

"It is important (...) to provide verified information to the migrant population so that they know what their rights are, what the regularisation options are and the services that can be found in Tapachula", explained Graber Ladek.

Giovanni Lepri, UNHCR representative, indicated that the agency supports the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid so that it can receive and process asylum applications fairly, but also efficiently and quickly.

UNHCR also has humanitarian assistance and relocation programmes in other parts of the country.

"We have a programme to deliver humanitarian aid to people who are in this category of extremely vulnerable, which helps them to stay until their asylum process is over, at least for the first few months, and once their asylum process is over, if they are recognised as refugees, we have a relocation programme to other parts of the country where they can begin a process of labour reintegration, where children can have access to school and health services," he said.

onu-mexico
Mexico, a place of transit and destination

Since 2014, Mexico has progressively shifted from being a country of origin, to one of transit, and now to one of destination, where people like Natalia and her children, who have been expelled or had to flee their homes due to violence, are arriving.

The change can be measured in numbers: according to official Mexican figures, in 2014, 2,100 people applied for refugee status, in 2019 there were more than 70,000, and in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number dropped to 40,000 requests.

However, between January and November 2021, Mexico received more than 123,000 asylum requests from people coming from Haiti, Honduras, Cuba, El Salvador, Chile, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil and Colombia.
 

More in Society