Attachments
An Emergency Appeal (EA) for 18 million CHF (MDR43008) was launched on 29 July 2022 aimed to increase the reach of the Red Cross Societies of Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico to scale up assistance to 210,000 people to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to people on the move along migratory routes, including through more effective preparedness and responses, strengthened capacities, and risk reduction.
The EA was launched as a trigger to facilitate immediate actions to address the humanitarian needs of migrants, returnees, and host communities. It was launched under the Global Program to address the significant increase on people in transit and returnees throughout Central America and Mexico. A total of 2,350,453 Swiss francs (13% coverage of the Appeal) was received from different donors (see Donor Response), including 1,010,229 CHF corresponding to the DREF loan. The IFRC, on behalf of the Mexican Red Cross, Guatemalan Red Cross, Honduran Red Cross, Salvadorean Red Cross, Costa Rican Red Cross, and Red Cross Society of Panama would like to extend many thanks to all partners and donors for their generous contributions.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Description of the crisis
The Americas region is home to complex and mixed migration, which takes place both within and beyond the region. Many migrants, refugees, and returnees move through irregular pathways driven by persecution, violence, disasters, or a desire for better opportunities. Central America has become, in recent years, one of the busiest transit routes to the United States.
Unlike the 1990s, when migration was predominantly of Central American nationalities and there was a trend of south-to-north movement, migrants now come from multiple regions and continents. Many of them, of diverse nationalities, use Panama as their first point of passage to the United States and Mexico.
Mixed migration flows have generated a variety of groups and profiles of migrants moving through Central America by different routes and at different stages of the journey within the same region. In addition, the Americas have experienced new patterns of internal displacement, motivated by conflict and different types of disasters. Economic factors, labour, insecurity (especially notable in Ecuador and Haiti), and political issues are the main reasons for migration in the region.
The year 2023 was distinguished by a remarkable migratory mobility in the Americas, marked by a prevalence of regular over irregular movements and a growing demand for protection, integration, and regularization policies. Although the increase in mobility from Central American and Caribbean countries, especially from Haiti, has been influenced by the increase in violence and insecurity, as well as by the effects of adverse weather events and the scarcity of economic opportunities, the migration flow in 2023 was dominated mainly by migrants from Venezuela and Ecuador. According to Panamanian authorities, throughout 2023, 520,085 irregular migrants crossed the Darien province, including 328,650 Venezuelans and 57,250 Ecuadorians, among others.
In the same year, 1,148 cases of migrants were reported dead or missing in the region, tragedies linked to the lack of safe and legal routes for migration. The main causes of these incidents included drowning, transport accidents, extreme environmental conditions, and inadequate accommodation, with almost half of the victims being adult males.
In addition, 2023 saw an increase in restrictions on human mobility in the Americas. At the same time, policies focused on managing migration in a regular and safe manner were developed, with the aim of strengthening its contribution to sustainable development. The United States resumed deportations of irregular Venezuelan migrants and Peru passed a law to expel irregular migrants within 48 hours. Panama announced the implementation of stricter controls and a recent decree in Ecuador authorized police to carry out street controls, imposing fines on irregular migrants as justification for their deportation. In addition, Mexico and Chile have reinforced and militarized their borders, evidencing a varied approach to migration management in the region. On the other hand, policies were promoted to facilitate regularization and safe transit, highlighting the expansion of temporary regularization opportunities for Venezuelans in Ecuador in May 2023 and the agreements between Panama and Costa Rica to expedite the registered transit of migrants from the Darien Province.