Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Climate change is influencing the migration of Hondurans, which has increased by 3,000% in the last four decades, so the state must guarantee education and health to its population and bet on eradicating corruption and impunity to attract investments, warned the organization Oxfam.
“Repeated cycles of drought for more than ten years have made livelihoods increasingly vulnerable in the Dry Corridor,” which connects part of the southwestern region with the center of the country, the representative of Efe told Efe. Oxfam in Honduras, George Redman.
He noted that Oxfam had been giving “a response to the drought” in the Dry Corridor, when the country was first punished by Eta in early November and, two weeks later, by Iota.
“These phenomena have an impact, aggravated by climate change, which is also pushing families, in this case the Dry Corridor, to migrate, “he stressed.
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Thousands of Hondurans left in a caravan in mid-January with the idea of arriving in the US in search of better living conditions and escaping poverty and violence in the country, scourges that have been exacerbated by the crisis arising from the covid-19 and the damage caused by Eta and Iota.
On repression in Guatemala against thousands of Honduran migrants seeking to reach the United States in a caravan, he said it is a “violation of the human rights of migrants which cannot be accepted and should not be given “.
The migration of Hondurans has increased by 3,000% in the last four decades, as in 1980 there were 39,000 nationals living in the US and in 2019 it rose to 1.2 million, according to the study “Culture of Exile: Causes and consequences of Honduran migration (1980-2020) “, prepared by Oxfam and the Honduras External Debt Social Forum (Fosdeh, private).
Despite invisibility, the migration of women due to poverty, unemployment, violence and family reunification has also increased in recent years, Redman added.
In Honduras there are no initiatives aimed at preventing female migration, as the National Women’s Institute and the Women’s City program they do not have a “comprehensive vision” to care for migrant women, nor have they been able to consolidate a gender focus within public policies, according to the study.
COMBAT CORRUPTION AND REDUCE EXEMPTIONS
The causes of migration “are not problems that can be easily solved in one, two, or even three periods of government, they are long-term projects, but in some time has to start, ”Redman noted.
According to Oxfam, the decision to migrate alone or in a caravan is understandable in the current context of Honduras, where 65% of the 9.3 million people live in poverty, 3.4 million people have employment problems and the country records an average of eleven homicides daily.
The representative of the humanitarian organization has advocated for reducing the exemptions awarded to large companies in Honduras and looking for mechanisms for these incentives to translate into job generation.
Honduras loses about 40 billion lempiras (about $ 1.65 billion) annually, according to official figures, due to incentives for entrepreneurs.
“We are strongly struck by the fact that there are large exemptions for large companies, but we do not see the same treatment, the same privileges for the family farmer sector or the micro and small business,” he stressed.
He stressed the importance of investing in the agricultural sector, one that generates more jobs, and in micro and small businesses (SMEs).
“A real fight against corruption would reduce these losses and generate greater resource capacity to drive necessary policies” to reduce the causes that force thousands of Hondurans to migrate irregularly, he stressed.
EDUCATION AND HEALTH
Honduras must generate welfare, which means having a population with “high levels of education and health,” said Redman, who noted that in the country since 2010 are assigned “every less and less “resources for these two sectors.
He asserted that the neoliberal model “has failed to generate employment in Honduras on the scale needed to reduce underemployment and unemployment.”
Corruption, a scourge rooted in Honduras for more than a century, and impunity, “They make the investment not come” to Honduras, he stressed.
He further noted that it is necessary to “solve these two problems (corruption and impunity), which we know have many years of life in Honduras,” as in the last year “we see worrying trends (and) make many companies, especially the do not see Honduras as a safe investment opportunity. ”
In Honduras there is a “disenchantment with democracy and the distrust of much of the citizenry towards state institutions, because they have not been given an answer on poverty reduction, job creation and quality public services that generate capacity and opportunities, ”he emphasized.
Distrust “makes it very difficult to heal wounds, reduce the polarization that exists in the country to achieve a minimum social and economic pact on how these problems were addressed,” he said.