Attachments
Introduction
The unprecedented magnitude of mixed migration flows in Latin America continues to exacerbate the protracted regional protection crisis. Refugees and migrants continue to flee persecution, widespread violence, massive human rights violations, armed conflicts, natural disasters, and other situations that impact the general enjoyment of human rights. Humanitarian organizations and the international community have systematically warned about the consequences of this crisis and the need to coordinate targeted protection responses. However, during 2023, the state response to mixed migration flows has tended to prioritize security, presenting refugees and migrants as potential threats to public safety. This change is evident in state discourses that blame migration for countries' security problems or indicate that the only alternative to guarantee orderly migration is through the militarization of borders.
In this context, borders are areas of heightened risks, where the presence of state institutions — as duty bearers — is insufficient and is conditioned by a security approach, rather than an approach based on human rights. Borders are porous areas, difficult to predict and plan, and organizations continue to have limited capacities to offer a response that is suited to the magnitude of the needs. Likewise, the humanitarian response has encountered numerous challenges in adequately reaching persons in transit. Despite efforts to monitor and document human rights violations in border areas, humanitarian actors and duty-bearers have been unable to obtain a clear view of borders and routes. Nevertheless, the available information shows that legal protection vacuums continue to accentuate people's exposure to multiple threats, among which extortion, violence, and threats against property stand out. It also shows that refugees and migrants become more vulnerable while in transit.
This report aims to provide evidence to the humanitarian community based on the findings of the protection monitoring carried out by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela during 2023, and inputs that contribute to design a relevant humanitarian response. DRC implements protection monitoring activities directly and through local partners in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. DRC woks in partnership with Encuentros SJS for protection monitoring activities in Peru and with the Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The goal of protection monitoring is to collect, verify, and analyze systematic and regular information over an extended period to identify rights violations and protection risks for the population of interest to inform effective responses. At the regional level, DRC analyzes trends and changes in the protection environment to promote and strengthen evidence-based responses, improve humanitarian programming, and obtain quality protection outcomes, as well as provide inputs and recommendations to strengthen advocacy processes in the region.
Contact:
María Elena Hernández Domínguez
Regional Protection Coordinator
mariaelena.hernandez@drc.ngo