They urge to improve shelter for migrants victims of climate change

Daniel González Delgadillo

La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, October 28, 2024, p. 13

Given the increase in migration in America due to the effects of climate change, there is a need to apply greater justice mechanisms and reception services in the countries involved, in addition to reducing criminalizing narratives, with the aim of contributing to the human rights of this sector, said Andrea Villaseñor de la Vega, from the non-governmental organization Hispanics in Philanthropy, in an interview with The Day.

Villaseñor highlighted that Mexico is an example in the historical reception and accompaniment of migrants; I think it has been key for the region. So, we also have to look at it from there, of everything it has meant for many people who have gone through these spaces of care and attention (in their transit), and I think it is important to make them visible..

For almost six years monitoring migration, the specialist indicated that the organization and its networks have recorded the testimonies of migrants during their transit, especially after the hurricanes. Eta and Iotawhich hit Central America in November 2020. He also highlighted the endurance that exists in people who do not migrate in their attempt to defend their territories despite having lost all their property or who move without leaving their countries.

The World Bank estimated that by 2050, more than 200 million people could migrate due to climate change, of which 17 million would be in Latin America and the Caribbean. If actions are not implemented to stop global warming, the International Organization for Migration reported that around 113.5 million will be exposed to the most severe effects by 2090 in this region of America, which would cause more migrations.

For this work, he assured that he currently works with more than 30 organizations from Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Colombia that provide legal and psychological advice, medical care, information on destination routes, shelter, offers employment and in some cases family reunification. He denounced that there is a constant in the criminalization of migrants, especially in United States territory, by putting them all in one placesuch as relating them to drug trafficking or using them in electoral campaigns.

Villaseñor highlighted that from 2021 to 2023 they have carried out 22 virtual activities and another in-person activity with the participation of 406 attendees from different groups in the region to put these types of scenarios on the table, ensuring that of all the economic contributions that made internationally, only 2 percent go to climate migrants.