The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said on Wednesday as “a source of concern” the situation of greater vulnerability of migrants in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“Some of the vulnerable in dealing with this crisis are those who were already at risk. The protection of migrants in Latin America, for example, is a source of concern, with reports of deportations, border closings and legislative restrictions,” Bachelet said in a telematic colloquium organized by the Inter-American Dialogue.
The former president of Chile gave Guatemala as an example, where she said that migrants are returned from the United States. without protection measures or sanitary controls, despite the fact that some had tested positive for coronavirus before their return.
He also regretted that in Mexico the stigmatization towards returnees has grown, to the point that some communities have built barricades to prevent their passage.
In line with this, the High Commissioner expressed concern that “the pandemic is generating a wave of stigma and discrimination worldwide against certain national and ethnic groups, those suspected of having COVID-19 and also health workers.”
Bachelet noted that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus crisis also poses a great risk to women and girls, not because of inherent vulnerability, but because of previous discrimination and inequality.
In this sense, he pointed out and regretted that since the containment measures began to be applied in Latin America, there has been a general increase in the number of cases of gender violence, although in some countries, such as Peru, the assistance services affected women have been altered.
In addition, he pointed out that in the Latin American region the situation of greater risk for women is especially evident among those who work in the informal sector, domestic workers, indigenous, disabled, immigrants, infected with HIV and those with different sexual orientation and gender identification. .
On the other hand, Bachelet asserted that it is necessary to combat disinformation during the pandemic, so that “now more than ever, governments need to be open, transparent, responsible and accountable to the people they seek to protect.”
