Three out of 10 migrants seeking refuge in Mexico are minors, said the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mark Manly.
The first seven months of this year the number of foreigners who requested protection from Mexico reached 42,849 people, of which more than 12,850 are girls, boys and adolescents, according to Acnur estimates citing the Mexican Commission for Assistance to Refugees (Comar).
The number of procedures has risen considerably in the last five years. In 2014 the Comar registered two thousand 136 applications and by 2018 the number went to 29 thousand 623 applications, adds the UN entity.
This year is expected to exceed 80 thousand. The majority of applicants are from Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Haiti, among other countries.
‘So far this year about 30 percent of the people who have applied for refugee status in Mexico are boys and girls.
In this context, we appeal to the country’s long tradition of asylum, which dictates that the doors must be opened to people who are fleeing violence and persecution in their nations, ‘said Manly.
Participating this Monday in the launch of the XI edition of the Story and Drawing Contest for children and adolescents, which is entitled ‘Start over in another country’, the representative of the UNHCR indicated that this office and the entire system of UN ‘is committed to supporting Mexico and we think there are good prospects for integration.’
He stressed that refugees can contribute to the Mexican economy and society, as corroborated a few days ago in Saltillo, Coahuila
‘At the beginning what they need is a little support, because getting to a new country is not so easy; in that context we are concerned about the xenophobia outbreaks that we have seen in some locations in Mexico. In this regard, the head of the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City, Nashieli Ramírez, said that between January and April of this year, people who supported Mexico to give refuge to foreigners fell from 60 to 30 percent. The contest seeks to sensitize children and adolescents about the context the country is experiencing as a destination for people who need international protection.
