[NAME CHANGED] Pilar, 15, looks out from the ¨Casa del Migrante”, a transit center for those who have been deported or are passing through the city in Guatemala City, Guatemala on May 2, 2018. She came to Guatemala with her whole family from El Progresso, Honduras. Pilar was approached by a girl in school that wanted her to join Mara 18 and wanted her to become a sex worker for the gang. The girl threatened her that if she did not join the gang, the Mara would kill her whole family. She asked her father to leave. They sold everything, didn’t tell anyone, and left one month ago. They plan to stay in Guatemala. Pilar says: “It was hard to leave my friends, especially because I couldn’t say goodbye. We couldn’t risk the gang finding out.”
In recent years, an increasing number of children and families from the Northern Triangle countries of Central America – El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala – are migrating northwards through irregular pathways, hoping to resettle in the U.S. Some are fleeing pervasive gang violence in their home communities, while others are trying to escape endemic poverty. Many are hoping to be reunified with family members already living in the U.S. or are looking for better education opportunities. The common thread that joins everyone who sets off on this journey, however, is the hope for a better life.
The perils of the journey northward are well documented. Children and families without access to safe and legal migration pathways often take dangerous informal routes to reach their destinations. While transiting within the region and through Mexico, migrants from Central America may fall victim to trafficking, exploitation, violence and abuse at the hands of criminals or security forces. Unaccompanied children and women are at even greater risk. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the risk of victimization while in transit is significant.
If much is known about the risks to migrants traveling northward, relatively scan
*Las leyes que penalizan el aborto en Centroamérica ponen en riesgo a las migrantes
29 junio 2021.- Uno de los grupos más indefensos ante las violaciones y abusos sexuales son la mujeres y niñas migrantes, según un informe de la ONU, que asegura que las leyes contra el aborto en América Central agravan su vulnerabilidad.
Esta es una de las conclusiones a las que llega el estudio “Sometidos a abusos y abandonados”, publicado por la Oficina contra la Droga y el Delito, que ofrece una perspectiva de género sobre los abusos que padecen los migrantes en las rutas del Norte de África y de América.
“Las diferentes formas de violencia sexual, explotación sexual, violación o agresiones a mujeres son omnipresentes en todas las rutas migratorias y de contrabando y parecen afectar casi exclusivamente a las mujeres cuando tienen una dimensión financiera”, señala el informe.
“Las leyes que penalizan el aborto y los actos sexuales entre personas del mismo sexo ponen en la diana a las mujeres y a los miembros de la comunidad LGBTQI+”, añade.
El reporte recuerda que, en El Salvador y Honduras, el aborto está penalizado en todas las circunstancias y en Guatemala el aborto sólo es legal cuando hay peligro para la vida de la madre.
La penalización del aborto “expone a las víctimas a la criminalización y al riesgo de ser acusadas y procesadas ellas mismas, hecho que desalienta gravemente la denuncia de estos abusos”, agrega.
