Mexico City—Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) expresses its solidarity for the family of the two Haitian girls found dead at shelter in Oaxaca where they were staying temporarily with their mother. KIND calls for a renewed commitment by the government to prioritize the protection of children and adolescents on the move in Mexico. In response, Alejandra Macías Delgadillo, KIND’s Vice President and Country Director – Mexico issued the following statement.
“The integrity, security and comprehensive protection of migrant children and adolescents depend on robust, sensitive, and dignified systems of care and protection of rights, with sufficient personnel and appropriate and safe facilities, which maintain effective coordination. This tragedy shows the urgency of strengthening the institutional duty of care. This includes, as an initial step, immediate evaluations of infrastructure and material conditions in all shelters, as well as sufficient personnel for risk prevention and comprehensive care provided to children and their families.
Interagency surveillance, supervision, and monitoring systems are critical to ensure that centers that receive migrant families operate with clear, verifiable, and supervised standards. The participation and technical support of SIPINNAs are vital.
The protocols and mechanisms for action in emergency and urgent situations require diligent, timely, and effective coordination between government bodies, including health services, civil protection, prosecutors’ offices for the protection of the rights of children and adolescents and the DIF systems that are responsible for the daily attention and care of these spaces. Protection protocols must allow the voices of children and families to be considered as essential sources for identifying risks and improving institutional practices. In the case of children on the move, it must be guaranteed that they can interact in a language they understand and that officials use an intercultural approach.”
It is essential that legal investigations achieve truth, justice, and comprehensive reparations for the two girls, their family, and society, taking into account a gender, childhood and human mobility perspective. Any investigation must place children at the center and address the corresponding institutional responsibilities and structural or non-visible causes of these events. KIND stresses that every migrant child and adolescent should grow up and live in conditions of safety, dignity, and full respect for their rights.
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Media Contact: Megan McKenna, mmckenna@supportkind.org, 202-631-9990