National/Chiapas: CNDH Asks INM and COMAR for Precautionary Measures for 78 People Stranded in Tapachula

D353290E-0D91-4642-98C5-74FD20434997 @SIPAZ

On January 10th, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) published a request addressed to the National Institute of Migration (INM) and the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) expressing concern at the breach of the deadlines set by the Law in Regarding the procedures of immigration regularization.

According to records published by Andres Ramirez, head of COMAR, the number of asylum applications in Mexico in 2019 grew 2.6 times compared to the figures of the previous year. During the past 12 months, shelter applications were received from 70,302 people, mostly from Central American countries. The country from which most applications were registered was Honduras with an total of 30,045, followed by El Salvador (8,991) Cuba (8,677), Venezuela (7,662), Haiti (5,338), Guatemala (3,758) and Nicaragua (2,227).

The COMAR delegation in Tapachula, Chiapas, is where most of the applications are delivered, so there are a large number of cases not yet dealt with, so migrants are stranded in the city. In its communiqué published on January 10th, the CNDH specifically referred to the cases of 78 people who, unable to leave Tapachula, face an increase in the conditions of vulnerability of migrants who had to flee their countries as victims of forced displacement, internal conflicts and violations of their human rights.

It also denounced that in some cases they find it impossible to move forward in their process because the authorities ask them to install an email account. “These people, among whom there are women, girls and boys, denounced that the authorities require them to have an email account for notifications, but due to their condition they lack access to electronic and internet media.”

The CNDH requested that the procedures for the registration of applications be expedited and requested “to said authorities that the immigration regularization procedures and the applications for recognition be resolved with respect to the deadlines established by the Law”.

For more information in Spanish:

CNDH demanda al INM protección para 78 refugiados (El Sol de México el 11 de enero de 2020)

Solicitan medidas cautelares y respuesta a solicitantes de refugio varados en Tapachula (Chiapasparalelo el 12 de enero de 2020)

70.302 migrantes de países de todo el mundo solicitaron refugio en México durante 2019 (BIZ Republic)

Solicitud CNDH (10 enero de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Civil Organizations Report on Observation Mission in Tapachula (November 24, 2019)

Chiapas: Migration Authorities Stop Migrant Caravan in Tapachula (October 17, 2019)

Chiapas: African Migrants Clash with National Guard in Tapachula

(October 8, 2019)

International/National: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ends Mexican Visit while African Migrants Protest in Tapachula (October 7, 2019)

Chiapas: Federal Police Attack Migrants and Journalists at Migration Center in Tapachula (September 2, 2019)