The tragedy that happened is a wake-up call; we are talking about human beings on the move, who have many needs”.
Giovanni Lepri, UNHCR representative in Mexico.
Mexico has become one of the countries with the most transit of refugees in the last three years, which has revealed some actions that are needed to stop xenophobia and make effective the granting of human rights to people deprived of a home for violent reasons, persecution or a precarious life in their areas of origin, especially the global south.
In this sense, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR and the Tecnológico de Monterrey signed an agreement to strengthen joint strategies to promote the educational development of refugees, in addition to providing training and ensuring their social inclusion to asylum seekers, people internally displaced or in a context of mobility.
With the technical advice of UNHCR, the Tecnológico de Monterrey will incorporate topics, subjects or content on international refugee law, international protection and development of host communities. In addition, it will establish admission mechanisms and policies in accordance with national legislation.
In Nuevo León last year they carried out five joint projects: among which are the production of short documentaries that tell the stories of refugees already established in Mexico; or the inclusion of students in the humanitarian world through their social service.
Inés Sáenz Negrete, Vice President of Inclusion, Social Impact and Sustainability at Tec de Monterrey commented in an interview with El Economista that this agreement is intended to change the mentality inside and outside the institution it represents, in addition to emphasizing that universities have a important role in what to do of a more inclusive society with people in situations of mobility and refugees.
“What we want with these programs is to change the narrative of the students of the community itself, about the people who decide and are forced to change their residence, to change their country, to change their city, that they are people, human beings. who deserve a dignified life, dignified treatment and flourish wherever they are. There is work to be done critically against hateful, xenophobic narratives. There is work for the universities to communicate in a different way the lives of refugees”, she commented.
While the UNHCR representative in Mexico, Giovanni Lepri commented that it is striking that only 5% of young refugees in the world have access to universities, while many of them have the potential to be outstanding students.
He said that the issue of refugees in Mexico is a central issue “because the number of people who have come to Mexico in search of protection in recent years has grown exponentially, between 2021, 2022, and only what will As of 2023, there are more than 300,000 people who have requested asylum in Mexico, which means that they have arrived from another country, have crossed a border into Mexico and have asked to be able to have protection due to violence, persecution and having been forcibly displaced”, he highlighted.
“Alliances like the ones we have and many others make us have a more structured society, around a response based on rights, inclusive, supportive; where all the outbreaks of xenophobia are being removed ”she abounded. About the tragic episode in Juárez “in addition to all the specific elements of what happened, it is a call to attention, Mexico, which is the fifteenth largest economy in the world, must have the capacity to ensure that issues like these will never happen again,” sentenced Giovanni Lepri.
Only 5% of young refugees in the world have access to universities, which for UNHCR represents a tragedy since many of them have the potential to be outstanding students.
