High-level meetings are being held in Panamá as rights advocates say risks for migrants exacerbated by US border push.
By Aljazeera –
Apr 19, 2022
Top United States officials are in Panamá for a summit on migration in the Americas, where migrant rights groups say US policies exacerbate the dangers faced by migrants and asylum seekers heading north.
The US secretaries of state and homeland security are joining their counterparts from 20 other countries in the western hemisphere for a ministerial conference on migration on Tuesday and Wednesday in Panamá City.
“The US delegation will deepen our ongoing efforts to improve bilateral and regional cooperation on irregular migration and forced displacement, and lay the groundwork for a successful Summit of the Americas in June,” the State Department said on Tuesday.
However, migrant rights advocates contend that security and deterrence policies pushed by the US and other destination countries aggravate the risks migrants and asylum seekers face in transit through the region.
“The US government has been so focused on enforcement,” said Kennji Kizuka, associate director for refugee protection research and analysis at Human Rights First, a US non-profit group. “That has forced many asylum seekers to take more dangerous routes,” he told Al Jazeera.
‘Holistic response’
High-level dialogue at the conference this week will pursue a “holistic response to the challenges irregular migration generates throughout our continent”, Panama’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.
Multilateral banks, non-governmental organisations and international institutions – including the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) – are also participating in the ministerial conference.
More than one-fifth of the estimated 82.4 million people forcibly displaced in the world are in the Americas, said William Spindler, UNHCR’s spokesman for Latin América and the Caribbean.
“The most effective and sustainable strategy to achieve the stabilisation of populations on the move is to invest in regularisation and integration processes,” Spindler told Al Jazeera via email.
“An example is the granting by Colombia of a temporary protection status for a duration of 10 years to all Venezuelans living in its territory,” he said.
UNHCR representatives attending the ministerial conference will also highlight the importance of regional coordination mechanisms and engagement with international and private sector actors to address the root causes of displacement.
“At a time when the attention of the world is focused on the crisis in Ukraine, it is important to remember that there are other situations that also deserve and need the political commitment and resources of the international community,” said Spindler.
Dangerous journeys
Panama made repeated calls for international aid last year to bolster humanitarian assistance efforts in the Darien region, where migrants and asylum seekers from dozens of countries enter from Colombia and walk for days through the jungle.
River crossings, exposure and armed groups all pose serious dangers to people transiting the area. At least 51 people were reported missing or dead last year, according to UNHCR.
The overwhelming majority of the more than 133,000 migrants who crossed through the Darien region in 2021 were of Haitian origin or descent, according to Panamanian government records. But the pattern has since shifted.
Venezuela is now the top nationality of migrants transiting the Darien. Of the 13,425 migrants and asylum seekers recorded in the region over the first three months of this year, 4,257 were Venezuelans, already far surpassing that country’s total in 2021.
Since taking office in January last year, US President Joe Biden’s administration has focused on what it calls addressing “the root causes” of migration from Central América, as children and families have been arriving at the country’s southern border with México in large numbers.
Biden has also continued past US administrations’ pressure on México – and to a growing extent now also Guatemala – to stop migrants and asylum seekers before they reach the border.
The pressure on México to clamp down on migrants and asylum seekers transiting north likely played a role in the increase in the Darien region, according to Kizuka. “México was pushed by the United States to impose a visa restriction on Venezuelans,” he said. “The US has pushed more people through Panamá, through the Darien Gap.”
México instated a visa requirement for Venezuelans in January, following suspensions late last year of visa exemptions for nationals of Ecuador and Brazil. As of this month, Colombians must preregister online to enter México.
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