What is driving people from Central America?
BY ISN STAFF | July 31, 2014
Migration from the Northern Triangle of Central America — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — has risen steadily as violence has increased. Mary Small of Jesuit Refugee Service/USA and Shaina Aber of the United States Jesuit Conference explain what is driving people to flee for their lives.
Youth gang violence has intensified in the last decade, and as drug trafficking routes have shifted to Central America, violence associated with the drug trade has risen as well. Honduras has the highest homicide rate in world; since 2005, murders of women and girls have increased 346% while murders of men and boys are up 292%. In both Guatemala and Honduras, rates of impunity are over 90%.
Child advocates, especially from Honduras and El Salvador, report accounts of children and teenagers subject to assaults and intimidation from gangs, and of children being forcibly recruited by gangs who have “join or die” polices. In a survey conducted by UNHCR of 404 Central American children detained at the border in 2013, UNHCR found that 58% of the children might be in need of international protection.
Learn more at http://www.jrsusa.org
Hi! I am from NZ and with teams of people have started the Young Vinnies in the South of NZ in the Catholic Schools. I worked in Santiago Chile in the shanty towns from 1985 until 1995 with the Sisters of Mercy and the Columban Fathers. Having access to your resources is a blessing for me and the teachers in our Catholic Schools as they can present gtruthful reports to the students for discussion, action and prayer . Thank you so much s d. God bless.