Chiapas: Revictimiztion of Migrants in Accident; Mexican State Denies Dignified Treatment of Victims: COMDHSEM

@ Fronterizo

On December 14th, the Collective for the Observation and Monitoring of Human Rights in Southeast Mexico (COMDHSEM) denounced that the Mexican government has carried out actions that revictimize migrants who suffered an accident last week, which left at least 53 dead and more than 50 injured. During the accompaniment of migrants in matters of medical care, humanitarian aid and the migration regularization process, the group stated that “we have identified institutional actions that generate great concern and show the refusal of the Mexican State to give dignified treatment to people and relatives as victims.”

On the one hand, they have transferred some injured people to other hospitals without previously informing their families, so many have lost contact with them and do not have information or means of communication to find them. In addition, the lack of clarity in the immigration regularization procedures has caused many people to fear having to wait long periods to obtain the Visitor’s Card for Humanitarian Reasons. They denounced that the attention by the National Institute of Migration (INM) is limited to granting, for some people, said card, but later “they are left adrift without protection from the State.”

Finally, they explained that in many cases, both the people who decide to return to their country to be cared for by their families and those whose relatives move to Mexican territory to see their relatives in the hospital, “do not have government support (…) and they even [travel] without any immigration document that prevents them from being detained on the way.”

Faced with this situation, they demanded greater networking between government bodies to guarantee that people receive medical attention and dignified treatment; that they agree to regularization without conditioning; that “the best interests of childhood for girls, boys and adolescents” involved in the accident be guaranteed; give timely and truthful information to family members among others. They also added to their demands that there be judicial procedures to determine the responsibilities in this tragedy and put a stop to migration policies “that force people to put their lives at risk and full guarantee of the right to mobility and international protection.”

For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado: Denunciamos la revictimización y la ausencia de protección a personas víctimas de la tragedia del pasado nueve de diciembre (COMDHSEM, 14 de diciembre de 2021)

Denuncian revictimización de migrantes afectados por accidente en Chiapa de Corzo (Educa, 16 de diciembre de 2021)

For more information from SIPAZ: