Violence against people in transit in the southeast grows, warns Médecins Sans Frontières

From the Editorial Office

Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, July 28, 2022, p. 13

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams that provide medical, psychological and social work care to migrants in the southeast of the country warned of the increase in physical and sexual assaults and aggressions against this population.

The organization reported that in the last four weeks, its health personnel treated 850 migrants: 51 reported having been stripped of all their belongings and having been physically and/or sexually assaulted during transit through Francisco Rueda, Tabasco, and Las Choapas and Coatzacoalcos. , in Veracruz, specifically at the entrance of this municipality.

From April to date, he pointed out, a monthly increase in these cases has been reported and 67 percent of medical and psychological consultations have been related to violence.

He stressed that cases of sexual violence are especially worrying. In the last month, medical and psychological care has been provided to nine rape survivors, four of them in less than 72 hours after the event occurred, thanks to the proximity between our service point and the scene of the event. He pointed out that in the last quarter the number of survivors treated did not exceed one case per month.

MSF stated that other types of violence to which migrants have been exposed have been assaults, stab wounds, beatings, cruel and degrading treatment by criminals, which occur with increasing frequency and severity.

Our teams in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, have registered an increase in violence against migrants in the municipality, especially in the areas of Las Choapas and at the entrance to Coatzacoalcos. Patients reported being attacked with machetes, subjected to beatings, stripped of their belongings, and having suffered sexual assaultdeclared Patricia Piserchia, responsible for mental health.

Several reported that they were forced to witness rapes of their companionshe added.

The organization highlighted the harmfulness of violence on the mental health of survivors, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive states.

He called on the authorities to apply security measures and policies that help reduce the abuses faced by people on the move during their transit or stay in the state.