UN launches campaign to protect child migrants in Mexico, Central America

Record ID: 900729

  • Title: UN launches campaign to protect child migrants in Mexico, Central America
  • Date: 1st June 2017
  • Summary: NUEVO LAREDO, TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) MEXICAN AND US FLAGS FLYING NEAR BORDER MIGRANTS SITTING BY RIO GRANDE NEAR BORDER WITH THE USA MCCALLEN, TEXAS, USA (FILE) (REUTERS) BORDER PATROL OFFICER WATCHING OVER DETAINED MIGRANTS IN CENTRE DETAINED MIGRANTS SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS (FILE) (REUTERS) PLANE CARRYING DEPORTED MIGRANTS ARRIVING ON RUNWAY MIGRANT LOOKING OUT OF PLANE WINDOW DEPORTED MOTHERS AND CHILDREN WALKING ON RUNWAY DEPORTED CHILD CARRYING BAG WITH FOOD AND DRINKS DEPORTED FAMILY GETTING ONTO BUS DEPORTED MIGRANTS WAITING IN LINE SOLDIERS ON DUTY AT DEPORTEE PROCESSING CENTRE
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2017 15:22
  • Keywords: campaign border Central America Mexico United Nations UNHCR child migrants
  • Location: MEXICO CITY, NUEVO LAREDO, TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO / SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS / MCALLEN, TEXAS, USA, UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
  • City: MEXICO CITY, NUEVO LAREDO, TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO / SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS / MCALLEN, TEXAS, USA, UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036JG698J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The United Nations launched a campaign in Mexico City on Wednesday (May 31) to provide aid to an increasing number of children fleeing Central America for a better life in Mexico and the USA.
    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) organised the "Children On The Run" campaign to call on governments and the public to raise $18 million to help provide safe refuge for the thousands fleeing poverty and violence in Central America.
    According to the United Nations, the number of unaccompanied migrants crossing overland into North America has doubled every year since 2011. The United States also reported that about 54,000 children and their guardians were apprehended between October 2016, and January 2017 alone.
    Central America is one of the most dangerous regions in the world, battling criminal gangs and cartels in the midst of extreme poverty.
    Helping to launch the United Nations campaign was Stars Wars actor Diego Luna, who urged Mexicans to consider the plight of Central Americans in their country as on par with the tenuous situation Mexican nationals in the USA under President Donald Trump.
    According to the UNHCR, nearly 60% of unaccompanied migrant children from Central America detained in Mexico were in need of international protection, with many eligible for refugee status.
    With Trump's clampdown on migrants in the USA, children such as Ema from Honduras have chosen to stay on in Mexico.
    Mexico is reportedly struggling to process increasing numbers of refugee claims. The phenomena has created a slipover in asylum claims in Central America's more stable nations such as Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. Asylum requests in these countries soared by over 150% last year alone.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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