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Context

Impacted by increasingly complex forced displacement situations, Central America hosts hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes, either within or across their country’s borders, in search of safety. This includes IDPs in El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico; together with refugees and asylum-seekers from the northern Central American countries who have fled chronic gang violence, persecution and insecurity. The vast majority of refugees and asylum-seekers from these countries are hosted in Mexico and the USA, with several thousands more having sought asylum in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panama. In addition, tens of thousands of people have fled the social and political crisis in Nicaragua, the vast majority arriving in neighbouring Costa Rica where asylum claims have increased exponentially.

In 2019, the Americas was the largest recipient of asylum applications worldwide. An additional several hundred thousand persons are returning to their countries of origin as deportees, including those with protection needs. With an increasing trend of people forcibly displaced in the region exerting pressure on national protection and asylum systems, the MIRPS seeks to expand the operational capacity of States in Central America and Mexico to respond to forced displacement. This includes making the necessary arrangements to ensure safe reception and admission of people forced to flee, facilitating access to safe spaces and shelters, engaging community and municipal leadership, promoting durable solutions and livelihoods, as well as fostering an environment of peaceful coexistence.

In 2017, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Panama adopted the San Pedro Sula Declaration, to address forced displacement by strengthening the protection and assistance to affected persons, as well as promoting durable solutions. Through the Declaration, countries agreed to participate in the MIRPS as a regional contribution to the Global Compact on Refugees, where all states committed to adopt and implement national action plans, aligned to country specific commitments and priorities. In 2019, El Salvador joined this regional effort and held the Pro-tempore Presidency for 2020.

Nationally, MIRPS Technical Teams (NTTs) are comprised of relevant government institutions who plan and coordinate the implementation of work plans with support from UNHCR and OAS as the technical secretariat.
Through the State-led quantification process, NTTs have assessed the financial resource requirements and steps required to implement select national commitments, defining specific costed activities in the areas of protection, social protection, health, education and livelihoods. The related Concept Notes presented within this document have informed the elaboration of detailed Concept Notes, that were informed by consultations and working sessions of the NTTs which brought together national counterparts in the areas of planning, financing and international cooperation with the technical support from the UNHCR-OAS MIRPS Secretariat and the ProTempore Presidency.

This process has served to strengthen the national planning process to implement MIRPS national action plans, and is a basis for partnership engagement and resource mobilization. Key consideration was given to identifying commitments that aligned closest to the humanitarian context and prevailing protection needs, and were dependent on establishing new partnerships and forms of financing to implement. In a number of instances, focus areas also align to Pledges that were also made at the Global Refugee Forum.

The scale of the forced displacement crisis in the region - compounded by the pandemic - and the projections of a possible increase in the numbers of people fleeing once the opening of borders is regularized, requires the strengthening of partnerships to be a priority for 2021. In this sense, MIRPS countries have diverse national, regional and international partners, as well as the backing of the Support Platform, international financial institutions, development actors, the civil society and the private sector as a true example of responsibility-sharing.
Find out more about the Annual Report in the new MIRPS webpage Identification of resources required C