IOM director wants safer routes for migrants

The new head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the American Amy Pope, advocated today to create safer routes for migrants traveling from South and Central America to North America, while the use of dangerous routes such as the Darien Gap is multiplying.

“Whether it’s work routes, humanitarian routes or family reunification routes, we have to guarantee that people who can’t continue in their place of origin have a safe route to others without going through that extremely dangerous jungle,” he said in his first press conference. as the general director of IOM.

The number of people who have crossed the Darién Gap so far this year, which connects Central America with South America on the Isthmus of Panama, is already approaching 400,000 according to IOM data, when 248,000 are registered in the whole of 2022.

The profile of this migration has evolved, said the Pope, who pointed out that compared to previous years when many of the migrants on that route were Venezuelans, they now come from other countries. According to the IOM, many come from Cuba, Haiti and even from non-American countries.

“I personally visited Darién, and what we see are people who have left their homes because they have no hope: sometimes for economic reasons, sometimes fleeing conflict, persecution or xenophobia,” he said.

Regarding Mexico, another important focus on migration in the Americas, the Pope noted that the country “feels the pressure of thousands of migrants, and its government is very interested in creating more complete solutions.”

One of the solutions being worked on, he indicated, would be the creation of an “Office for Safe Mobility”. in which migrants can see a facilitated route before reaching the border with the United States.

“The Mexican government is really interested in developing this concept to ensure that migrants can register for better protection, to learn more about employment opportunities and resettlement routes to the US, Canada, other parts of the Americas or in some cases Europe,” he said. . pointed.

In 2022, the IOM recorded the death or disappearance of 686 migrants at the US-Mexico border, which for another year has been confirmed as the deadliest land route for migrants, although more deaths are by sea in the Mediterranean Sea (more than 2,000 so far this year).