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The first caravan reached yesterday (01/11) the city of Matías Romero, in the state of Oaxaca. The Mexican secretary of foreign affairs estimates that 4,000 people spent the night there. Photo: Rafael Rodríguez / IOM
– The United Nations Migration Organization, IOM, continues to provide support and assistance to migrants who have joined the caravans of migrants crossing Central America and have chosen to seek asylum in Mexico or to return to their country of origin.
In Tapachula's Siglo XXI Migration Station, managed by Mexico's National Institute of Migration (MNI), the IOM and the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SRE) provided food and nutrition kits. basic hygiene to more than 1,500 caravan migrants who have applied for asylum in Mexico.
"IOM maintains its position that the human rights and basic needs of all migrants must be respected, regardless of their migratory status," said Christopher Gascon, IOM Chief of Mission in Mexico. . "In coordination with UNHCR, we will continue to monitor the situation of the caravan, relying on field staff, the Mexican Migrant and Refugee Assistance Bureau (DAPMyR) and NGO partners, providing information on alternatives to regular and safe migration, as well as options for voluntary returns. "
A second caravan of about 1,800 Central American migrants admitted Monday (October 29th) by Mexican migration authorities arrived Wednesday (January 31st) in Huixtla, in the state of Chiapas, and is considering to move today, according to local authorities. This group began with the process of regularization in Mexico, but then decided to continue north without asking for asylum.
A third caravan of about 500 migrants left El Salvador last Sunday and went to Mexico on Tuesday, October 30, where most of them sought asylum. According to an IOM surveillance team, a fourth group of migrants left San Salvador on Wednesday (31/10) with about 1,700 people. The final group spent last night in the Guatemalan city of Tecún Umán, on the Mexican border.
Meanwhile, the bulk of the first caravan reached yesterday (01/11) the city of Matías Romero in the state of Oaxaca. According to a press release from the SRE, about 4,000 people spent the night there.
After traveling some 850 kilometers from San Pedro Sula to Honduras, fatigue is evident among many migrants who spent last night at Matías Romero.
The exhaustion and the challenges ahead have pushed many migrants to opt for voluntary return, proposed by the Mexican authorities and consular officials of Honduras. Thanks to its Mesoamerica program funded by the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration of the US State Department, IOM is now able to provide assistance for voluntary return to migrants.
Between 19 and 24 October, at Honduran border checkpoints in Agua Caliente and Santa Rosa de Copan, IOM provided 2,141 hygiene kits and basic food items to returnees. Migrants return to Honduras on buses that arrive at four to six people a day, while other migrants return with planes provided by the Mexican government.
"The phenomenon of caravans in Central America is another expression of the migration process that the region has been facing for some time," says Marcelo Pisani, IOM's regional director for Central America, the United States. North America and the Caribbean. "It is a mixed migratory flow, motivated by economic factors, family reunification, violence and the search for international protection, among others.
"Nevertheless," says Pisani, "we are concerned about the stress and demands that caravans impose on the host country's humanitarian community and asylum systems, which ultimately have limited resources to deal with this challenge. or to take care of and protect migrants.
"The effective protection of human rights for all rests on the respect of the processes provided for by international treaties and national laws, which must constitute the frame of reference for any action likely to be implemented in this situation, "concluded the regional director of the IOM.
For more information, please contact Jorge Gallo at the IOM Regional Office for Central America, North America and the Caribbean, Tel: +506 2212 5352, E-mail: [email protected]
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