UNHCR to Help Mexico Deal with Rising Tide of Asylum Claims  

GENEVA - The United Nations refugee agency is scaling up programs in Mexico to help the country tackle the growing number of asylum applications and assist asylum seekers while their claims are being processed.   The number of people seeking asylum in Mexico has increased dramatically in recent years.  Mexico’s Commission for Refugee Assistance says that between 2014 and 2019 registered asylum claims jumped from just 2,000 to 70,000 per year — a spike of over 3,000 percent.  

The United Nations refugee agency reports that asylum applications dropped significantly throughout most of last year because of COVID-19 border closures and other movement restrictions.      However, UNHCR spokeswoman Aikaterini Kitidi says numbers have risen sharply in the first quarter of this year, reaching an all-time monthly high of more than 9,000 claims in March.      “The majority of asylum applications are related to violence affecting hundreds of thousands of people in parts of Central America, including threats, forced recruitment, extortion, sexual violence and murder.  It is also an indication of the significant efforts that Mexico is making to offer protection to those fleeing for their lives,” she said.