more than 280 million people have left their places of origin

Migration is a right, ensures the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, but not everyone can do it in the same way, not even under the guarantee of protecting their lives.

In a report released by the United Nations Organization (UN) this week, the organization’s secretary general, Antonio Guterres, assures that more than 80% of those who cross borders in a safe and orderly manner are powerful drivers of “economic growth, the dynamism and understanding.

However, in a context of wars, extreme poverty, inequality, famine, lack of consensus between governments and requirements that are difficult to meet by the most vulnerable, among others, crossing borders has become the dividing line between seeking better conditions of life or lose it trying.

This is the situation to which thousands of people have been subjected for years trying to reach Europe from countries in the Middle East and North Africa, aboard precarious boats.

The same scenario is recorded for those who undertake the dangerous journey by land from Latin American countries to the United States, a destination that not everyone manages to reach.

“Unregulated migration along increasingly dangerous routes, the cruel kingdom of traffickers, continues to exact a terrible cost,” Guterres acknowledged in his message.

The UN indicates that there are currently more than 280 million people living in places other than where they were born. The figure includes both regulated and irregular migration.

At least 51,000 migrants have lost their lives in the last 8 years

Deaths and disappearances are the unfortunate common denominator of the dangerous routes to migrate.

In the past eight years, at least 51,000 people have died trying to reach a foreign nation, the UN says. The numbers in this sense continue to grow day by day, but behind each number there is a human being.

“A sister, a brother, a daughter, a son, a mother or a father,” said the high representative of the United Nations, recalling that “the rights of migrants are human rights.”

“They must be respected without discrimination, and regardless of whether their movement is forced, voluntary or formally authorized,” he added.

Given the risks and precariousness, Guterres urged “to do everything possible” to avoid the loss of life, as a humanitarian imperative and a moral and legal obligation.

“There is no migration crisis; there is a crisis of solidarity (…) Today and every day, let us safeguard our common humanity and ensure the rights and dignity of all”, stressed Guterres, who called for greater search and rescue efforts, medical care and rights-based migration pathways expanded and diversified.

The case of Latin American migration to the United States

Migration from Latin America to the United States originated mainly for economic reasons and insecurity is a long-standing situation, also evidenced in the so-called migrant caravans, predominantly made up of people from Central America.

But in recent years there has been a greater visibility of citizens from Colombia, Haiti and Venezuela, who try to cross the so-called ‘hole’, on the border between Mexico and the US.

Last August, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that 13,024 citizens of Colombia they tried to enter their territory irregularly from the southern border, for a total at that time of 116,000 detainees.

It was an increase of 4,000%, compared to the 10,000 registered in 2021 and less than 3,000 in 2020.

They are joined by thousands of Venezuelans, who after years of political and financial crisis in their country initially migrated to other Latin American nations, whose economies are also much more affected today.

In addition, Haiti He has seen an increase in citizens of his country trying to cross into the United States. Although it is the poorest nation in the hemisphere, the precariousness has deepened.

After being questioned in the so-called migrant caravans about their reasons for migrating, hundreds of Haitians referred to the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in August 2021 and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, for which they say they fear returning to a country that seems be more unstable than when they left.

Governments such as the United States and other countries insist on regularized migration. In the Venezuelan case, last October the Joe Biden Administration reported that it was opening a legal path to receive up to 24,000 people from the South American nation, but simultaneously issued new rules that are difficult for thousands of those affected to comply with.

The people coming from Venezuela Those who aspire to the residence permit must demonstrate from their country of origin that they have a sponsor in the United States. That is, a person capable of providing them with “financial and other support.”

Officials will examine case by case and those who are admitted will obtain an authorization to travel by air to the United States. Once there they can apply for a work permit.

People who have been deported from the US in the last five years, who entered Panama or Mexico irregularly or who try to cross the US border without authorization will not be able to access the program.

Many of those who have undertaken the arduous journey say that not everyone affected by the acute crisis has the chance to qualify. Among them are difficulties in acquiring a passport or the lack of a sponsor in the US.

In addition, dozens of Venezuelans denounced the separation of families at the border.

Although in general terms, the UN called for international investment in the countries of origin of those who are forced to migrate to ensure that migration is “an option and not a necessity”, the root of forced migration remains unresolved.

On the contrary, the origins of the problem are amplified. A greater detriment to security and a deepening of poverty in the midst of entrenched corruption, the lack of opportunities and economic effects derived from the Covid-19 pandemic, among others, are among the many reasons.