Dr. Marcia Vera Espinoza, lecturer in Human Geography at the Queen Mary University of London, discussed the displacement crisis faced by Latin America during the virtual panel discussion on the topic, ‘Migration Management During COVID-19: Best Practices from Latin America, Africa and Asia’, conducted by the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism on 28th July 2020.
Displacement Crisis in Latin America
Dr. Espinoza stated that COVID-19 hit Latin America in the midst of two major displacement crises, resulting in the countries dealing with the dual issues of pandemic and displacement. Dr. Espinoza highlighted that while there were over 5 million Venezuelan citizens being forced to migrate to other South American destinations over the past five years, Mexico on the other hand, is grappling with issues of transmigration and has to handle several hundreds of Central American migrants pouring into its land as a result of externalization of border policies and asylum procedures by the US.
Thus, these previous source countries of the region have transformed to transit and mainly destination countries. Migrants, especially irregular ones, have been excluded from COVID-19 responses in the light of limited state capacity, and are victims of racism and xenophobia.
Dr. Espinoza pointed out that besides job insecurity, the crowded living conditions and limited access to health service and social protection in the wake of pandemich as only added to the already vulnerable state of the displaced population.
“The different levels of inclusion in the governmental responses to the crisis have deepened pre-existent inequalities and gaps between the migrant and the national population”: Dr. Marcia Vera Espinoza
Observations on the Impact of COVID-19
Dr. Espinoza, along with her counter parts from several other institutes across the region conducted a research on the impacts of COVID–19 on migrant workers and refugees in Latin America. As a part of the research, which began in May, 70 interviews were conducted with officials of national and local governments in the transit and destination cities of 7 countries- Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico. NGOs, migrant led organizations and international organizations were also interviewed and the four-month long research have confirmed that the pandemic has exacerbated the vulnerability of the mobile population of Latin America. Dr. Espinoza further highlighted five ideas that emerged from the research, that can contribute to the current debate.
Dr. Espinoza states that the pandemic has changed the dynamics of migrant mobility and created a new pattern which she terms “mobility in immobility”. In the current scenario of border restrictions, and pandemic related migration, two distinctive movements have emerged – 1) migrants returning to their home countries, 2) forced immobility due to restrictive top-down process, limited cross border movement and lack of access to international protection.
The second finding is that the local municipalities in these seven Latin American countries have responded better to the COVID–19 crisis than their respective governments, reinforcing the role of grassroot mobilization, through measures like providing shelters to migrants and by adopting inclusive solutions to social problems.
The third observation noted was that, these countries have accelerated the digitalization of migration procedures like renewing the visas of migrants. This initiative of digitalization was implemented to avoid the otherwise expected mass congregation of migrants at the embassies for their visa renewal. Consequently, countries like Chile, Columbia and Peru have given temporary extensions of IDs and visa documents to enable the transition to digital platforms. However, this has not been extended to asylum seekers.
The flip side of this measure is that this has led to an increase in the time taken for migration procedures like visa renewal and, more importantly ,the lack of alternatives for migrants with low digital literacy has made the process exclusionary.
“More border restrictions don’t stop migration but increase migrant irregularity, as mobility in and out of country continues with many opting for unauthorized border crossing as last resort.”: Dr. Marcia Vera Espinoza
The fourth observation put forth by Dr. Espinoza was that, many NGOs and international organizations have to reformulate their plans in the light of current crisis, and should focus on working hand in hand with each other and with the local governments to aid migrants. Measures like provision of food through parcels or coupons can be adopted.
The fifth observation reiterated the increase in xenophobia and discrimination towards migrants, with the government of countries, media and society at large tending to associate the COVID–19 pandemic with irregular migration.
Concluding her address, Dr. Espinoza applauded the role of migrant-led organizations in combating the current migrant crisis and pointed out that during the last five years, the governments of these countries have considered the displacement crisis as a temporary contingency. But with COVID-19 complicating the equation further, there is a need for robust migration management system and efforts to reduce the gaps between migrant and native population now and in the post pandemic future.
Megha Rangaraj, the writer is an under graduate student with Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Pune, India. She is an avid advocate for the emancipation of women and passionate about social issues. She can be found on twitter handle @MeghaRangaraj