During the General Assembly of the United Nations Program on High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Deputy Minister Carmen Muñoz declared that more than 20,000 migrants pass through Costa Rica illegally chasing the “American dream”.
The activity started on October 3rd at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland and it will end on October 7th.
Muñoz recalled, once again, that migrants do not fall from the sky, instead they are fleeing from different circumstances such as consequences of war, hunger, misery, persecution, and displacement by natural disasters.
Regarding the issue of refuge, the deputy minister noted that according to data from the Directorate General of Immigration and Nationality, so far this year, Costa Rica has registered 2,313 applications for refugee status in the Central America’s Northern Triangle (TNC), which represents an increase of 215% when compared to 2015.
Muñoz mentioned some of the agreements met on July, 2016 during a High Level roundtable called Call to Action: Crisis of protection in the Central America’s Northern Triangle: strengthening asylum quality, reducing the risk of stateless people, strengthening Care Center and Registry of Migrants and Refugees, to welcome adults entering Costa Rica from south migratory flows and implementing Transit Protection Mechanisms to temporarily accommodate refugees from Central America who are at high risk of persecution.