GENEVA, Dec 9 (NNN-TELESUR) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that the number of Central American people who have been forced to migrate will reach one million by the end of 2020 due to the increasing violence in the region.
UNHCR officials noted that 470,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have been reported, which represents an increase of 33 percent as compared to 2018.
There are over 97,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in Mexico, over 318,000 internally displaced people in Honduras and El Salvador, and over 102,000 Nicaraguans have left their country.
“The escalating situation of chronic violence and insecurity, coupled with COVID19-related restrictions, is exacerbating hardship and persecution for tens of thousands of people in Central America, who now have limited means of finding protection and making ends meet,” UNHCR said.
UNHCR officials also pointed out that the pandemic has impacted the progress made in the protection of the displaced populations in the region.
On Dec. 8, under the Comprehensive Regional Framework for Protection and Solutions to Forced Displacement in the Region (MIRPS), the governments of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Panama will adopt a political declaration to address the situation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 307,620 new COVID-19 cases and 4,558 related deaths in the Americas on Dec 5, pushing the number of confirmed cases to over 28 million. — NNN-TELESUR
