The Other Refugee Crisis - Women on the Run from Central America Melissa Fleming - The Guardian
go to original January 19, 2016

Women on the Run: Alba’s Story (USA for UNHCR Media)

As the world’s attention has focused on the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East, another crisis has been unfolding, to far less attention, in the heart of the Americas. The violence in Central America’s “northern triangle” of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and parts of Mexico, has reached war zone levels. Central authority has effectively collapsed in some areas, and transnational gangs have taken over, ruling their territories with terrifying violence.



Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world. El Salvador and Guatemala come in fourth and fifth. And women are under particular threat, being raped, beaten, extorted, abducted and murdered almost every day. El Salvador and Guatemala now have the first and third highest female homicide rate on the planet.

Last month UNHCR released a harrowing report, called Women on the Run, which shares the terrifying experiences of 160 women, including 15 transgender women, who escaped.

Their stories are chilling. Most were the targets of direct threats from criminal armed groups; many saw their loved ones murdered or disappeared, or were forced to pay unaffordable “cuotas” (gang taxes) because they lived in a certain area. Many lived barricaded inside their homes, unable to go to school or work for fear of gunfights and threats. Others faced significant domestic violence and abuse. And none received the protection they needed from the police.

Their testimonies leave no doubt. These women, like tens of thousands others, are quite literally running for their lives. But in the popular discourse, their trauma has gone relatively unrecognised or has been cast as an immigration crisis.

It’s time we called this what it is. What we are witnessing is a genuine refugee crisis, and one which is getting worse.

Read the rest at The Guardian

Related: Aiding Central America's "Women on the Run" (Worldpress.org)

Related: U.S. Takes Common Sense Steps to Stem Central American Migration (The Los Angeles Times)

Related: America's Criminal Justice System Should Not Be an Immigration Removal System (HuffPost)

Related: U.S. Top Court Takes Up Case on Obama Immigration Plan (Reuters)

Related: America Should Think Hard Before It Deports Undocumented Immigrants Like Me (The Huffington Post)

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