Mexico City / Madrid, October 28, 2020. Thousands of migrant children and families continue to arrive in Mexico to protect their lives, seek better opportunities or reunite with their families. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the risks to their physical, mental and emotional health.

In this context, the General Directorate of European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) joins the humanitarian intervention of Save the Children and HIAS by financing the care of migrants and asylum seekers in Mexico, particularly in the cities of Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez and Monterrey on the northern border; and in the city of Tapachula on the southern border of the country.

Thanks to this support from ECHO, food deliveries are being made to meet the nutritional needs of the migrant population, as well as deliveries of kits to promote hygiene practices and healthy lifestyle habits, providing an immediate response to the needs presented by the pandemic. Likewise, Save the Children has installed child-friendly spaces for the care of children and adolescents in two shelters in the city of Tijuana and has reinforced the Disaster Risk Reduction mechanisms in the shelters in Tapachula where it operates.

On the other hand, for the prevention and care of gender-based violence against migrant girls, adolescents and women, Save the Children will carry out actions such as: mapping of legal, psychosocial and health services; providing psychosocial and mental health support; strengthening the capacity of service providers to support survivors of gender-based violence; and case management of gender violence.

The organizations consider that there is still a long way to go; the violence that children suffer in the Northern Triangle of Central America - an area made up of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - is very similar to that suffered by children and adolescents in places like Syria, Yemen or Afghanistan. Although the population of these countries is not strictly suffering from formal armed conflict, the situation from which they are fleeing does incorporate elements of a context of violence and crisis. Currently, this violence is compounded by the socioeconomic effects caused by the pandemic, which especially affect people who are forced to migrate.

In addition, the conditions of migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking children, adolescents and families who remain in Mexico are serious and require coordinated intervention between the different levels of care. This implementation, with the EU as a strategic ally of Save the Children and HIAS, will take place for at least one year, and aims to serve almost 10,000 migrants and asylum seekers in the country.

Communication Department:

prensa@savethechildren.es

For more information:

Susana Hidalgo - 618 913 946/91 513 05 00

susana.hidalgo@savethechildren.org

Manuel Sobrino, Communication 629 48 23 04/91 513 05 00

manuel.sobrino@savethechildren.org