“United States immigration agents are seizing children from parents at the southern border. Italy’s new populist coalition is forcing refugees to turn elsewhere. An anti-migrant backlash now threatens to fracture Germany’s government.
“And through it all, the world’s population of displaced people keeps rising.” September 20, NYT
The number of refugees fleeing violence in Central America grew 58% last year as 294,000 people sought asylum. The deportation of Central Americans by the US is making the situation worse.
“The people who are coming are saying that the level of violence is brutal – they are basically confined to their own houses because there is a lack of freedom. It is very dangerous to go to school, to go to church, to move around,” said Francesca Fontanini of UNHCR. “They are living in very traumatized and violent circumstances.”
Mexico: An unsafe country for thousands of refugees fleeing violence in Central America (Médecins Sans Frontières)
Sixty-eight per cent of the migrants and refugees interviewed by MSF in places along the transit route in Mexico had been exposed to violence. Nearly one-third of the women surveyed were sexually abused. Central American gangs are operating in the south of Mexico and are responsible of some of the attacks against migrants.
MSF medical data shows that a quarter of our medical consultations for migrants and refugees in Mexico are related to injuries from intentional violence. Ninety per cent of our mental health consultations are related to violence. Our patients are suffering from anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other conditions, which have severe consequences on their ability to function. Women, children, and members of the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer (LGBTQ) community are more vulnerable to certain types of violence and require specific protection measures that are not effectively in place in Mexico.
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The number of “forcibly displaced people” rose to 68.5 million last year, according to the UN refugee agency reporting. 16.2 million people were newly driven from their homes in 2017. 44,400 each day. 1 every 2 seconds.
Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia house 68% of the world’s refugees.
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