UN urges Mexico to unify legislation to protect migrants

The United Nations on Wednesday urged the Mexican Senate to unify at the national level all laws and regulations to better protect migrants, especially children and women.

During a meeting with senators, Ana Guezmes, the UN representative in Mexico, urged Mexico to greatly improve its legislation and programs to protect migrant women, which represent 50 percent of migrants travelling to the country.

With women seeking to flee their countries due to threats of violence, Guezmes urged Mexico to establish a legislative system that ensures equality for women in all states and at all levels of government.

She appreciated the Senate for its campaign against child marriage, but said a law stating a minimum marriage age of 18 must be enforced nationwide. Such a law is active in seven of 32 Mexican states.

Senator Diva Gastelum, president of the Senate's gender equality commission, agreed with Guezmes that the issue of protecting migrant woman was crucial.

Mass deportation of Latin American migrants from the United States posed a serious problem, Gastelum said, adding that Mexico should take responsibility for those migrants.

Mexico built a shelter for migrant children in 2014 and has sought to stop the passage of children through dangerous areas.

Mexico cannot continue to handle the situation where the United States, to avoid dealing with a humanitarian crisis involving tens of thousands of children, is forcing Mexico to detain these children at the border, said Angelica de la Pena, who leads the Senate's human rights commission.

"We must apply the Law of Rights for Children and Adolescents and we must improve how shelters and migration centers are working," she said. Endi