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Published Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Migrant children affected by the
pandemic in Nicaragua, IOM reports
Alejandro, 16, and his brother, 14, traveled regularly with their mother from Costa Rica to reunite with their father in Nicaragua. However, as their parents were detained, both adolescents are now protected and receiving specialized care at Casa Alianza, an NGO located in Managua.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) report, they are waiting for a safe and regular return and reunification with other family members in Costa Rica.
"Still, they needed the essential elements for a proper trip home," IOM said in its statement.
Through a joint project, "Yo Camino" (I March) campaign, IOM and the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, have provided specialized kits to more than 60 migrant children and adolescents like Alejandro and his brother, including many Nicaraguans.
The assistance kits contain hygiene supplies for personal use, food, and recreational and informative materials on preventing covid-19 and irregular migration. In some cases, specific items to cover a child's special needs also have been delivered. In this case, Alejandro and his brother received clothing and suitcases they lacked for their return.
"I feel very happy and extremely grateful for what they are doing for my brother and me,” Alejandro said after seeing his kit's content. “Now that we have the suitcases, we finally have a place to pack our clothes for our return to Costa Rica."
The delivery of kits will continue in the coming weeks in Managua and Estelí, in Northern Nicaragua, as part of the project Institutional Strengthening for the protection of migrant children and prevention of irregular migration. IOM coordinates with civil society organizations as well as accredited consulates in the country for the campaign.
"Children and adolescents who are migrants or are in migratory contexts, tend to suffer disproportionately due to covid-19, whether in their countries of origin, transit or destination," said Ana Cecilia Solís, a Childhood and Migration specialist at IOM. "With the closure of borders due to the pandemic, migrant groups, including children and adolescents, have been stranded in places where access to water and other resources is limited. Moreover, the sons and daughters of migrants are particularly affected by their parents' unemployment, limiting their access to basic needs."
Carmen Delfina, a grandmother who takes care of two granddaughters whose parents are migrants in Panama, appreciated the help. "Due to lack of work caused by the pandemic, my sons have not sent us remittances. This has limited us in terms of food and medicine available for their children," she said.
According to Paola Zepeda, IOM's Head of Office in Nicaragua: "IOM and UNICEF reiterate their commitment to providing support and protection to migrant children and adolescents going through migration processes, whether these are departures, transits or returns."
Ivan Yerovi H, UNICEF’s Representative in Nicaragua added: "The covid-19 pandemic is further worsening the crisis faced by many families who are forced to migrate both internally and externally. However, those who are most vulnerable are children and adolescents who migrate alone and irregularly, exposing themselves to all kinds of danger."
In Costa Rica, about 300 hundred Nicaraguans remain at the northern border of Peñas Blancas Post, in Guanacaste Province, because their government is now requiring its own citizens to enter the country with a negative result of covid-19 diagnosis test.
According to the Costa Rican General Directorate of Migration, the reason for this prohibition is the resolution of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health that requires its citizens to test for covid-19.
In other words, Nicaraguan border authorities are enacting strict measures to traveling Nicaraguans infected with covid-19. The government is requiring their citizens abroad not to be infected with covid-19 to re-enter their own country.
Due to this new order from Nicaragua and to avoid the accumulation of foreign-born people at the border area, authorities in Costa Rica have established the same request to people who wanted to travel to Nicaragua.
Now, Nicaraguans or any foreign-born person must present proof of having carried out a covd-19 test within 72 hours of traveling, and with a negative result.
The requirement is temporary and applied until further notice.
"This requirement will be enforceable for both Costa Rican and foreign people who intend to travel to Nicaragua," said Immigration in its statement. "People who do not meet this requirement will not be authorized to leave Costa Rica by the Costa Rican immigration authorities."
According to Immigration, people interested in traveling to Nicaragua must pay for the covid-19 diagnosis test at a private clinic, because Social Security and the Ministry of Health will not cover the cost of the tests to leave the country.
Also, the same measures will be required by international transportation that offer land travel services from Costa Rica to Nicaragua.
"A call is made to public and private means of transport, as well as to the Public Transport Council of the Ministry of Public Transport, to require people who intend to travel to Nicaragua on public transport, the covid-19 test with a negative result," Immigration said in its statement. "In case the person not having that requirement, we urge people not to travel until they have it, to avoid unnecessary crowds at border posts in the north of the national territory."
The strict health measure to travel between Costa Rica and Nicaragua isn’t applied to the southern border. According to an agreement Nicaraguan citizens who travel from Panama to Nicaragua will not require covid-19 testing, Immigration said in its statement.
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