@Chiapasparalelo
In a statement published on June 6th, the Network for the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Chiapas (REDIAS) expressed its deep concern about the escalation of armed violence in Chiapas and its serious consequences for children and adolescents. This is particularly so in view of the most recent events that occurred on the Southern Border and Chenalho.
According to journalistic sources, since May 26th, a strong armed confrontation began in the municipality of Frontera Comalapa where rival criminal groups detonated bombs, shot at the population, forced recruitment of young men, and destroyed homes in the Lajerio and Candelaria communities. As a result of these acts, at least 3,500 people were displaced and a 15-year-old teenager was killed by a stray bullet. At the beginning of June a gradual return of the population to their communities began and the magnitude of the effects of the day of violence was beginning to set in.
On another note, the violence in the Chiapas Highlands follows the lives of displaced people in the Chenalho municipality. On June 2nd, an attack perpetrated by an armed group in Polho was reported, resulting in a total of seven deaths and three people wounded by gunshots, including a three-year-old boy who was murdered and an eleven-year-old girl died with gunshot wounds to the chest.
In these situations of extreme violence, girls, boys, and adolescents are exposed to losing their lives and suffering irreparable damage to their health, integrity, housing, and assets. Fear and displacement prevent their return to school, and the lack of action by institutions to prevent and address these situations puts them at risk of being used by criminal groups.
According to the record of the organization Melel Xojobal, the homicides of children and adolescents by firearms in Chiapas have gone from two in 2021 to four in 2023. Likewise, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights reports that more than 6,000 girls, boys and adolescents have been displaced by violence from 2010 to date, and with these recent events, the figure rises to more than 7,000.
For this reason, the organizations that make up REDIAS made an urgent call to the authorities of the three levels of government and to international human rights bodies to stop the armed violence in the state of Chiapas.
For more information in Spanish:
Urgen atención para niños, niñas y adolescentes víctimas de desplazamiento forzado por violencia armada (Chiapas Paralelo, 6 de junio de 2023)
Preocupa en Chiapas el impacto de la violencia armada en niñas, niños y adolescentes (El Heraldo, 6 de junio de 2023)
Urgente atender a niñ@s y adolescentes en desplazamiento forzado (REDIAS, 6 de junio de 2023)
For more information from SIPAZ:
sipazen.wordpress.com 