US and Mexico Agree to Improve Asylum Access for Tens of Thousands of Refugees Sibylla Brodzinsky - The Guardian
go to original July 13, 2016

Central American children fleeing serious threats face formidable obstacles in applying for asylum in Mexico. (Human Rights Watch)

The US and Mexico have agreed to improve access to asylum for the tens of thousands of Central Americans fleeing unbridled violence in their countries, and to explore alternatives to detention.

The commitments were laid out in a draft document circulated at the end of a two-day meeting last week on the plight of migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Hosted by the UN refugee agency, the summit in Costa Rica sought to raise the profile of and seek improved responses to the Central American refugee crisis, and brought together NGOs, representatives from refugees’ countries of origin, as well as those from transit and asylum countries.

“There isn’t enough attention paid to this situation in the Northern Triangle, which has been unfolding over the last couple of years,” Volker Türk, the UN’s assistant high commissioner for refugees, told the Guardian in a phone interview during the meeting.

Though Central America produces large numbers of economic migrants who head to the United States or Canada seeking better employment opportunities, it is the surge in asylum seekers that has caused regional concern.

These are mostly people fleeing violence inflicted on their communities by brutal criminal gangs who regularly target civilians, raping, murdering, forcibly recruiting and kidnapping their victims in exchange for exorbitant ransom payments.

El Salvador had the world’s highest murder rates last year, while Honduras and Guatemala are in the top five countries with the most murders per capita. Read the rest at The Guardian

Related: Six Ways to Make Media Coverage of Immigration More Constructive (The University of Kansas)

Related: Migration Is a Business on Mexico's Southern Border (Market Place)



Related: Driven by Fear: The Salvadorean Children Sent on the Perilous Journey to the US (The Guardian)

Related: Central American Gang Wars Force US to Take on More Asylum Seekers (The Daily Caller)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!