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He General secretary The United Nations expressed great dismay over the deaths of 38 people in a fire that occurred Monday night at a migration center in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a metropolis bordering El Paso, Texas, on the US-Mexico border.
In a statement released by his spokesman, António Guterres urged to undertake a thorough investigation into the tragedy and reiterated its commitment to “continue working with the authorities of the countries where movements of people take place to establish safer, more regulated and organized migration routes.”
Guterres also offered his condolences to the relatives and friends of the deceased and wished the speedy recovery of the 29 people who were injured in the incident.
The burned enclosure part of the facilities of the National Institute of Migration in Ciudad Juárez, guarded by the immigration authorities of Mexico.
According to the UN Human Rights Office in Mexico, there were 68 foreigners in the immigration center at the time the fire broke out.
From various Latin American countries
Preliminary reports indicate that the migrants came from Central America, especially from Guatemala, as well as from Venezuela and Colombia, among other Latin American countries.
The UN Office explained that among the deceased were some people who expected to apply for asylum in the United States.
On behalf of the United Nations System in Mexico, the Office added its voice to that of the Secretary General to request that “an exhaustive investigation be carried out that deduce responsibilities in the event” and expressed its solidarity with the families of the victims.
A sign on the border wall in Ciudad Juárez, in the Mexican state of Chihuhua and El Paso, in Texas, USA.
protest burning
Official information indicates that migrants set their mats on fire to protest because they were going to be deported and the fire spread and got out of control. Some press releases, on the other hand, assure that the protests were related to the lack of water and the confinement in the facilities, although they agree that the migrants started the incident by burning their mattresses.
The UN System in Mexico recalled the international commitments on migration and asylum to which Mexico is a party, and specifically cited Goal 13 of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration calls to ensure that “any detention in the context of international migration complies with procedural guarantees, is not arbitrary, is based on law, necessity, proportionality and individual assessment; is in charge of authorized officials and lasts as little as possible.”
He also alluded to the 2018 Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees, which call for create alternatives to detention that are not custodial, adopting a human rights-based approach.
Migration with a human approach
Like the Secretary General, the UN in Mexico made clear its commitment to work with the authorities to establish safe, regulated and orderly migratory routesthat they implement prevention measures in order to reduce the risk of fatalities and prevent events like this from happening again.
In the same vein, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, urged the countries of the region “to humanely, fairly and effectively address the growing population flows across the Americas”.
