AZMEX ASLYUM SPECIAL 19-6-18

AZMEX ASLYUM SPECIAL 19 JUN 2018


Note: Mexico only 9k of 14k given asylum. Reunite the families in Mexico?
Gracias


Asylum applications to Mexico have increased more than one thousand percent in the last 5 years
Emir Olivares Alonso |
Tuesday, 19 June 2018 00:20

http://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/2018/06/19/solicitudes-de-asilo-a-mexico-aumentaron-mas-de-mil-por-ciento-en-los-ultimos-5- years-5644.html

In Central America the situation is different, says the UNHCR report, because in this region the people who decide to flee do so because of the violence caused by gangs and organized crime. Photo José Carlo González

Mexico City. In Mexico, shelter applications increased by 26 percent between 2013 and 2017, from 296 to 14 thousand 596, respectively, according to official data.
However, despite considerable increase, our country grants only a few asylum.

Of the more than 14,000 petitions, Mexico closed last year with 9,117 petitions accepted. In per capita terms, this means that in Mexico there were only seven refugees per 100 thousand inhabitants in the country in 2017, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

These people flee from their home nations for economic, political or violent reasons, the UN agency said in its Global Trends report. Forced displacement in 2017, which will be launched on Tuesday, and where it addresses the situation of refugees and displaced people on a global scale.

In the section on the Americas, the report reveals that in 2016, 90 percent of refugee claimants to Mexico came from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala; however, by 2017 the number of Venezuelans who requested this protection in Mexican territory increased, reaching 28 percent of the total, while that of the nations of the Northern Triangle of Central America was reduced to 59 percent.

According to the UNHCR, "the complex socioeconomic and political situation in Venezuela" has caused more than 1.5 million of its inhabitants to move to other nations. More than 166,000 Venezuelans submitted asylum applications between 2015 and 2017, but three-quarters did so during the past year.

Its main destinations were Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Spain and the United States. In the case of Mexico, Venezuelans were located in 2017 as the second nationality of petitioners - only behind the Hondurans - with 4 thousand 42 applications.

In Central America the situation is different, says the UNHCR report, because in this region the people who decide to flee do so because of the violence caused by gangs and organized crime. Worldwide, more than 294,000 Central Americans presented asylum and refuge applications to other countries, particularly the United States, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica and Panama.

Faced with this complex situation, Mexico approves very few requests for refuge. Last year, the Mexican authorities recognized 2 thousand 825 people as refugees or gave them complementary protection and it is estimated that it closed with 9 thousand refugees.

"The number of people recognized as refugees in 2017 fell 27 percent with respect to the 2016 number, largely due to the limited capacity of the Mexican Refugee Aid Commission, aggravated by the impact of the September 19 earthquake. At the end of the year, 52.9 percent of the people who requested this condition were waiting for a decision. "

The report warns that wars and other forms of violence and persecution increased forced displacement in the world. At the end of last year, the figure of forced displacement on a global scale reached 68.5 million people, of which, 16.2 million did so in 2017, which is equivalent to 44,500 displaced persons each day and one every two seconds.

"Unfortunately, at a global level, solutions are still scarce. Wars and conflicts continued to be the main drivers with little visible progress towards peace. Around 5 million people were able to return to their homes in 2017, and the vast majority returned from internal displacement, but among them were people returning under duress or into fragile contexts. Due to a decrease in the number of resettlement sites, the number of resettled refugees was reduced by more than 40 percent to some 100 thousand people, "the report states.

"We are at a turning point, where successful management of forced displacement at the global level requires a new and much broader approach so that countries and communities are not left alone," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

"But there are reasons for some hopes." Fourteen countries are already initiating a new plan to respond to refugee situations and in a matter of months a new Global Compact on Refugees will be ready for approval by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Of these countries, six are from the American continent México, Belice, Honduras, Panamá, Costa Rica y Guatemala.

End