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News > Honduras

Nearly 9,000 Child Migrants Have Fled Honduras in 2015

  • A family of Central American migrants on route to the U.S.

    A family of Central American migrants on route to the U.S. | Photo: AFP

Published 25 July 2015
Opinion

Honduras has failed to reduce soaring levels of child migration as the underlying causes, including violence and poverty, remain unaddressed.

Nearly 9,000 child migrants have left Honduras unaccompanied so far this year to face the perilous journey north toward the United States in the ongoing crisis of child migration from Central America.

According to data announced by the United Nations children's foundation UNICEF on Friday, Honduras has not succeeded in reducing the number of child migrants fleeing the country. At least 8,700 children have left Honduras in the first half of 2015 alone.

“Honduras’ forced migration urges international refugee protection.”

Although deportations of child migrants from the U.S. have decreased, deportations of Central American migrants from Mexico have risen drastically. But far from solving the problem, it has just displaced it.

Analysts have said Mexico's enhanced role in deportations is a case of Mexico doing the U.S.' dirty work under increased pressure from its neighbor to the north to crackdown on migrant traffic.

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Adriana Beltran, Senior Associate for Citizen Security of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), said earlier this month that the spike in migrant apprehensions in Mexico “illustrates that the humanitarian crisis is far from over and underscores the urgent need to address the sources of violence and lack of opportunities driving many children and families to flee their homes.”

According to UNICEF, more than 2,500 child and adolescent migrants returned to Honduran soil after being deported, mostly from Mexico, in the first four months of 2015 alone.

Women and their children walk on the tarmac after being deported from the U.S., at the airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

But even once deported child migrants are returned to their home country, serious concerns for their well-being and human rights remain, given the root causes underlying child migration, including violence and poverty.

UNICEF stressed the need to ensure a smooth return to Honduras for deported children, but WOLA warns that appropriate protection measures are not in place for children who may face uncertain violence.

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The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has called for asylum to be granted to Central American refugees given the soaring levels of violence in the region.

Tens of thousands of child migrants, mostly from Central America and many unaccompanied, arrived at U.S. borders 2013 and 2014. The Obama administration has come under fire for its handling of the major influx of undocumented children by immediately detaining many in deplorable conditions, despite the government's longstanding promises of immigration reform.

Children aboard “The Beast,” the dangerous train migrants use to travel through Mexico. | Photo: AFP

Obama's pending US$1 billion dollar Alliance for Prosperity plan focused on Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, also known as the Northern Triangle, is touted as a strategy to tackle skyrocketing levels of child migration Central America by tripling U.S. funding in the region.

RELATED: US Central America Plan Exacerbates Migration Crisis, Critics Say

But rights defenders have said that the plan will not address the underlying structural causes of migration and will promote a development model that increases insecurity for the most vulnerable populations. The plan is also expected to pave the way for increased militarization in the name of “stabilization” in the region and exacerbate the problems underlying social and economic inequality, which often force migration.

The proposed U.S. budget also includes US$142 million for Mexico, including funds earmarked for tightening Mexico's southern border control to curb Central American migration.

WATCH: Facing the Child Migration Crisis in Honduras

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