When we harm nature, it fights back: unbearable heat waves, intense droughts, deadly forest fires... the evidence of climate change is clear and irrefutable. We, as humans, have been negatively altering the climate, and it is now our responsibility to fight climate change and restore our planet. Around the world, the United Nations has supported countries to take up mitigation efforts and promote collective and individual action on climate change. We all have a role to play. This video produced by our team in Belarus talks about the importance of taking small steps, both at home and in the workplace, and the things each of us can do to help restore our planet. Important note: Video available in Russian with English subtitles.The UN works to improve living conditions for migrants and local populations in Mexico January 26, 2022 The United Nations System in Mexico, through the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), works in Tapachula , Chiapas, Mexico, to support local populations and the mixed migratory flows that cross that area of the country. The UN in Mexico provides this support by accompanying national authorities such as the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (COMAR), the National Migration Institute (INM) and also the government of the municipality of Tapachula.
Until July 2021, Tapachula concentrated 70% of the applications for refugee status. In addition, this border city receives daily flights of people expelled from the United States. “One of the focuses is on how this type of assistance really becomes an accompaniment that guarantees the rights of migrants and people seeking refuge, in the most humane way possible,” explained Peter Grohmann, highest representative of the Organization. in Mexico. The coordination of the work of United Nations agencies with federal, state and municipal government authorities makes CZ Leads it possible to serve both local populations and those on the move. Thanks to these coordinated actions, it is possible to facilitate integration into local communities and prevent discrimination, xenophobia and other forms of rejection. Employees of UN agencies stand side by side on the bank of a river in Chiapas. Caption: Employees of UN agencies working in Tapachula posing together in the Suchiate River, on the Mexico-Guatemala border, in Chiapas, in November 2021. Photo: © Luis Arroyo/CINU Mexico An essential task For Luis Fernando Carrera Castro, UNICEF representative in the country, this joint work is essential. “This impact is reflected in improving the living conditions of the population, and in allowing them to access services that they would not otherwise have such as food, shelter, education and health and, on the other hand, creating conditions to protect their human and legal rights against the Mexican State,” Carrera added.
For her part, Dana Graber Ladek, Head of Mission of the International Organization for Migration in Mexico, said that this agency promotes a model to provide alternatives for immigration regularization, assistance and reliable information to the migrant population that allows them to make the best decisions. “It is important (…) to provide verified information to the migrant population so that they know what their rights are, what the regularization options are and the services that can be found in Tapachula,” explained Graber Ladek. Giovanni Lepri, representative of UNHCR, indicated for his part that this agency supports the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance so that it can receive and process asylum applications fairly, but also efficiently and quickly. UNHCR also has humanitarian assistance and relocation programs in other parts of the country. “We have a program to deliver humanitarian aid to people who are in this extremely vulnerable category, which helps them sustain themselves until their asylum process ends, at least the first few months, and once their asylum process ends, If they are recognized as refugees, we have a relocation program to other parts of the country where they can begin a labor reintegration process, where children can access school and health services,” he said. Mexico, place of transit and destination Since 2014, Mexico has progressively gone from being a country of origin, to one of transit and, currently, to one of destination, where people like Natalia and her children arrive, who have been expelled or had to flee their homes. due to violence.