WHAT’S THE STORY?

IT is a very different refugee crisis, one driven not by war or terrorism, but by organised crime.

According to the United Nations, Central America is experiencing an explosion in people fleeing violence, with armed gangs at the root of the crisis. While battling the ongoing asylum seeker problem in Europe, the UN’s own refugee agency UNHCR is also urging the world to wake up to a growing problem engulfing another continent.

And, as in Europe, women and children are amongst the most acutely affected.

In a statement, the agency said: “UNHCR considers the current situation in Central America to be a protection crisis. We are particularly concerned about the rising numbers of unaccompanied children and women on the run who face forced recruitment into criminal gangs, sexual and gender-based violence and murder.”

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

OFFICIALS say the number of people running from violence in Central America has surged to “levels not seen since the region was wracked by armed conflicts in the 1980s”.

Last year more than 3,400 people sought asylum in Mexico – up 65 per cent on 2014 and a massive 164 per cent increase on the number for 2013. Most of those arriving last year had travelled from El Salvador, a near-neighbour which borders Guatemala and Honduras.

These three countries are collectively known as the “Northern Triangle of Central America”, but they are also increasingly associated with violence and displaced people thanks to a “dramatic” rise in people leaving their homes.

HOW DOES THAT BREAK DOWN?

ASYLUM claims by Salvadorans in Mexico have recently risen by more than four times, while Hondurans also make up a large number of those arriving in Mexico.

The country, which is waging its own battle against drug cartels and organised crime, is currently hosting 3,448 refugees, with few from anywhere other than Central America.

Elsewhere, Costa Rica registered north of 2,200 asylum claims in 2015 – a massive 176 per cent increase on the 2013 level and a 16 per cent jump from 2014.

Here, too, most came from El Salvador and the total refugee population in Costa Rica is almost 3,620.

Meanwhile, in Belize, where the population is less than 400,000, a ten-fold increase in just one year drove more than 630 people to seek asylum in 2015. And other countries in the region such as Nicaragua and Panama also report similar sharp increases in asylum requests from people fleeing the Northern Triangle countries.

But these numbers mask the true scale of the problem, because most asylum seekers from the Northern Triangle go even further afield, heading instead to the United States.

According to preliminary data from 2015, America is on track to receive more than 250 per cent more displaced people than in 2013 and almost twice the number of 2014.

WHAT IS BEHIND THIS?

IN the words of the UNHCR, “large-scale violence and persecution at the hands of armed criminal actors have now become, along with poverty and unemployment, primary drivers of refugee and migrant flows from the Northern Triangle”.

El Salvador has the highest homicide rate in the world and international cooperation against sizeable, organised, armed groups and people smugglers and traffickers is now said to be needed.

The UNHCR said: “The crisis in Central America urgently requires a stepped-up protection response and a regional approach to sharing responsibility for this growing crisis.

“UNHCR is working closely with the governments of the region and civil society partners to enhance screening capacity to identify people forced to flee violence and persecution in the Northern Triangle. For children, who require assistance to make decisions on asylum claims, this means that best-interests determination procedures need to be in place to ensure that they are not returned to persecution.

“Government efforts require additional human and financial resources, in addition to the rapid establishment of more adequate infrastructure so that asylum-seeking and refugee children are effectively protected. We are also working to build reception capacity, including enhanced assistance for asylum-seekers and additional spaces in civil society shelters for migrants so that they can also accommodate asylum-seekers.

“UNHCR is also encouraging governments to introduce legal avenues for refugees so that they no longer have to rely on smugglers and traffickers and expose themselves to exploitation and abuse.”