GUATEMALA / GRANDI REFUGEES

Download

There is no media available to download.

Request footage
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, made a first working visit this week to Guatemala. The country has long been a stopping point on the way to Mexico and the United States, as well as a place from which refugees and migrants also flee – but it is now becoming a destination for people fleeing violence and crime in neighbouring El Salvador and Honduras. UNHCR
Description

STORY: GUATEMALA / GRANDI REFUGEE
TRT: 02:00
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 21, 22 AND 23 AUGUST 2017, GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA

View moreView less
Shotlist

23 AUGUST 2017, EL CEIBO

1. Wide shot, border between Guatemala and Mexico
2. Wide shot, two men leaving Guatemala to Mexico along the “paso ciego”

22 AUGUST 2017, GUATEMALA CITY

3. Pan left, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi and UNHCR Guatemala Head of Office Enrique Valles walking
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Guatemala is, or has become, a country of refuge. There are many people who end up asking for asylum in this country, particular from Salvador and Honduras. It is, of course, and has been for many years a country of transit, of people coming through Guatemala going towards Mexico, the United States.
5. Wide shot, Guatemala-Mexico border crossing
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees:
“It’s also a country that receives back Guatemalans that are deported from the United States, from Mexico, some of whom have very sensitive protection concerns. So, it’s an extremely complex situation which requires responses of equal complexity.”

21 AUGUST 2017, GUATEMALA CITY

7. Various shots, two men inside the Casa del Migrant shelter for people in transit or in need of protection

22 AUGUST 2017, GUATEMALA CITY

8. Various shots, UN Refugee Chief Filippo Grandi meeting with implementing partners at the Casa del Migrante

21 AUGUST 2017, GUATEMALA CITY

9. Various shots, children aged 9 to 17 in the care of a shelter for unaccompanied minors funded by UNHCR
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Enrique Valles, Head of Office, UNHCR Guatemala:
“We have been contributing to the first safe space for the protection of unaccompanied minors with international protection needs, and we have been really dealing with very dramatic cases of unaccompanied minors here.”
11. Various shots, men leaving shelter

View moreView less
Storyline

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, made a first working visit this week to Guatemala. The country has long been a stopping point on the way to Mexico and the United States, as well as a place from which refugees and migrants also flee – but it is now becoming a destination for people fleeing violence and crime in neighbouring El Salvador and Honduras.

Fleeing violence and poverty, hundreds of thousands of people transit through Guatemala each year.

They take routes like this “Paso Ciego” – or blind path – to cross into Mexico and head north

But now Guatemala is becoming a country of destination, as well

Grandi said and international efforts are needed to tackle the root causes of Central America’s mass displacement.

SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Guatemala is, or has become, a country of refuge. There are many people who end up asking for asylum in this country, particular from Salvador and Honduras. It is, of course, and has been for many years a country of transit, of people coming through Guatemala going towards Mexico, the United States.

SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees:
“It’s also a country that receives back Guatemalans that are deported from the United States, from Mexico, some of whom have very sensitive protection concerns. So, it’s an extremely complex situation which requires responses of equal complexity.”

Guatemala now counts more than a dozen “safe spaces” and mobile units to help vulnerable people on the move.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is working with a network of partners to help Guatemala’s refugees and asylum seekers including unaccompanied minors and children.

SOUNDBITE (English) Enrique Valles, Head of Office, UNHCR Guatemala:
“We have been contributing to the first safe space for the protection of unaccompanied minors with international protection needs, and we have been really dealing with very dramatic cases of unaccompanied minors here.”

In 2015 400,000 people are estimated to have transited through Guatemala in route to North America. UNHCR estimates that nearly 21,000 of those transiting through in 2016 have protection needs.

Though the numbers of people who seek asylum in the Central American state are still small – there were 786 claims made from 2002 to June 2017 – that figure is has doubled over the past two years, as rampant crime, extortion and violence in neighbouring Honduras and El Salvador force people to flee.

View moreView less
15474
Production Date
Creator
UNHCR
Alternate Title
unifeed170824f
Subject Name
MAMS Id
1955398
Parent Id
1955398