UNITED NATIONS, CMC – The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) says a new UN-backed network aims to drive action to save migrant lives in the Americas, including the Caribbean.
“Thousands searching for a better life meet their death crossing deserts, rivers, and remote areas in the region,” said the IOM, adding that its Missing Migrants Project documented 1,433 deaths last year – the highest number since its establishment in 2014.
The Project is run by the UN agency’s Global Data Institute (GDI), which last week launched the first Network on Missing Migrants in the Americas.
“The objective is to save lives, improve data collection and support the families of survivors,” IOM said.
“When people have access to safe and regular migration pathways, that increases the likelihood that they can contribute to economic prosperity at home and in their places of destination,” said GDI Director Koko Warner.
She added that lacking these common pathways “often has tragic results and is a lost opportunity.”
The IOM said the network connects civil society organizations, government institutions, journalists, and other key actors.
Participants meet in “virtual cafés,” a Missing Migrants Project initiative established three years ago, the IOM said.
Although the exact number of those who die transiting through this region is unknown, at least 7,495 people died between 2014 and 2022, according to Missing Migrants Project data.
The IOM said the new network would also strengthen national and regional capacities for collecting and exchanging data on migrant deaths and disappearances.
The IOM said that actions would include:
- Issuing recommendations to try and prevent these deaths and disappearances.
- Searching for and identifying the deceased.
- Providing support and reparation to their families.
“It will also facilitate the creation of strategic alliances among participants by conducting joint investigations, among other measures,” it said.
The IOM said that the network remains the only space in the Americas where civil society representatives, journalists, artists, researchers, and representatives of governmental and intergovernmental institutions have explicitly met to discuss issues related to migrant deaths and disappearances.
The launching of the network comes as immigrant advocates in New York have described as “unfathomably cruel” a plan by the United States and Canada to limit the entry of Caribbean and other asylum seekers at their borders.
This came after reports of asylum seekers entering Canada via unofficial points of entry, such as Roxham Road, along the northern border of the United States.
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization representing over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, strongly denounced this decision, stating that it “recklessly endangers the lives of asylum seekers” while demanding expanded protections for asylum seekers.
“Asylum seekers flee violent conditions to build better futures for themselves and their families,” Murad Awawdeh, NYIC executive director, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). “They undergo unnecessary journeys across thousands of miles for safety and relief.
“To now restrict the movement of asylum seekers is to endanger their lives recklessly,” he added. “Even Canada’s plan to provide a new refugee program for only 15,000 asylum seekers is a slap in the face and is no substitute for both countries to honor their humanitarian commitments to offer asylum to all who need it.
“President Biden cannot continue to shirk his responsibilities and take pages out of the xenophobic Republican playbook for political gain,” Awawdeh continued. “He must honor his promise to protect asylum seekers by welcoming them with open arms.”
In a joint statement after their meeting in Ottawa last week, US President Joe Biden and Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection “enshrines our belief that irregular migration requires a regional approach centered on expanding legal pathways and humane border management and recognizes that we must address the underlying economic and security drivers of migration.
“The United States and Canada remain committed partners in advancing the principles of the Declaration,” it added. “As part of its commitment to these principles, Canada will welcome an additional 15,000 migrants on a humanitarian basis from the Western Hemisphere over the year to continue expanding safe, regular pathways offered throughout the hemisphere as an alternative to irregular migration, with a path to economic opportunities.
“Additionally, US and Canadian officials are now poised to implement an agreement to apply the terms of the Safe Third Country Agreement to asylum seekers who cross between ports of entry, which we anticipate will deter irregular migration at our shared border,” the statement continued. “We will remain in close coordination as we implement this new agreement.”
Both leaders also said they “remain concerned about deteriorating security in Haiti, committed to increasing international support for the Haitian people, including through security and humanitarian assistance, enhanced support for the Haitian National Police, and by holding accountable those who undermine Haiti’s stability.”
Haitians and Cubans have been among the refugees seeking to enter the United States through its southern borders.
and then  says a new UN-backed network aims to drive action to save migrant lives){kind=link}