Study “Forced Displacement and Protection Needs produced by new forms of Violence and Criminality in Central America” May 2012 Document prepared by: Upon request of: Study “Forced Displacement and Protection Needs produced by new forms of Violence and Criminality in Central America” 2012 This document was prepared by the Internacional Centre for the Human Rights of Migrants – CIDEHUM upon request of the United Nations High Comissioner for Refugees, UNHCR. This document is not an official publication of UNHCR. UNHCR is not responsible for – and does not necessarily share - its content. The views expressed in this document are only representative of the institutional view of those who prepared the Study and do not necessarily the views of UNHCR, of the United Nations or of its Member States. 2 Table of Contents Page List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 4 1. Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... 5 2. General Outline ............................................................................................................................ 11 2.1 Causes, trends and patterns of violence ................................................................................. 11 2.2 OC, forced displacement and lack of protection .................................................................... 13 3. Effects and consequences of the new forms of violence .............................................................. 16 3.1 Risk zones generating forced displacement as a result of violence and OC in Central America ........................................................................................................................................ 16 3.2 Geo-referencing of risk and forced displacement………………………………………… 16 3.3 Northern Triangle of Central America: brief description by country .................................... 18 3.3.1 Guatemala........................................................................................................................ 18 3.3.2 El Salvador ...................................................................................................................... 21 3.3.3 Honduras ......................................................................................................................... 24 4. Gaps in protection and needs ....................................................................................................... 27 4.1 Protection gaps ....................................................................................................................... 27 4.2 Profile of people forcibly displaced by violence and OC ...................................................... 29 4.3 Violence by urban/rural context ............................................................................................. 30 5. Institutional Response to Displacement and Protection ............................................................... 31 5.1 International Protection and migration policies ..................................................................... 31 5.2 Countries not included in the Northern Triangle of Central America .................................... 34 5.2.1 Mexico ............................................................................................................................. 34 5.2.2 Nicaragua ........................................................................................................................ 35 5.2.3 Costa Rica ....................................................................................................................... 36 5.3 National protection and regional and international actors supporting the States ................... 37 5.3.1 National Protection .......................................................................................................... 37 5.3.2 International Protection ................................................................................................... 38 6. Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................................. 39 6.1 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 39 6.2 Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 43 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 45 APPENDIX 1 Representative Cases Description ................................................................................. 48 APPENDIX 2 Description of the Methodology of this Study and Sources Consulted………….. 53 3 List of Abbreviations CIDEHUM International Centre for the Human Rights of Migrants COMAR Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees CRM Regional Conference on Migration DNPP National Directorate of the Preventive Police, Honduras ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent IOM International Organization for Migration OAS Organization of American States OC Transnational Organized Crime OCAM Central American Commission of Migration Directors OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights PNC National Civil Police, El Salvador and Guatemala SICA Central American Integration System UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime WB World Bank WFP World Food Programme 4 1. Executive Summary The study “Forced Displacement and Protection Needs produced by new forms of Violence and Criminality in Central America” is part of a joint effort by the UNHCR and CIDEHUM to highlight the situation of victims of Organized Crime (OC) within their countries of origin and abroad, in countries of transit or destination. OC forms an organized and internally coordinated structure, which includes drug trafficking networks, gangs and criminal groups that operate from the local to the transnational level. This report aims to analyze the national and international protection needs of victims of OC and establish the possibilities of institutional attention (governmental, international and civil society) in these areas. While the number of Central American refugees and asylum seekers (mainly from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras) has risen in recent years, it represents only a portion of the population that has been displaced and may be in need of international protection. This tendency could intensify because of problems of security and violence produced by the activities of OC, which leads to people being displaced internally or crossing borders in search of international protection in more and more countries. Although there is a lack of official figures on the number of people forcibly displaced by OC in the Central American region, an idea of the magnitude of this situation can be gleaned by reviewing the homicide rates in the countries concerned, identifying risk zones and zones in which forced displacement by OC has been reported, the figures for people deported and expelled from North American countries and of those seeking asylum because of persecution by OC. All these figures have risen in recent years. Traditionally those seeking international protection from Central American countries request refugee status in the United States of America, Canada or in other countries in the region (Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama). Some of these people, after being recognized as refugees by the host states, approach UNHCR asking for resettlement in the United States of America and Canada. From the methodological point of view we went on to: • Review and analysis of bibliographical data and statistics. • Collection and analysis of non-systematized data and gathering of socio-geographical data: field visits in Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua; considering the following sources of information: Interior Ministries (Security, Police); Executive, Legislative and Judicial Power; Migration Boards; National Human Rights Commissions, Public Prosecutors, Ombudsmen, agencies of the United Nations System, Civil Society Organizations and qualified informants (organizations of the disappeared and victims). Semi-structured interviews and case studies were undertaken, along with observation in urban and rural areas and border posts; strategic geographical and territorial information gathering and mapping of the forced displacement phenomenon. • Analysis of the information and planning of actions and strategies, definition of conclusions and recommendations to establish the different protection needs of people forcibly displaced by violence and organized crime in the Central American region, the role of States, the United Nations System and UNHCR, as well as International Organizations and Civil Society Organizations. 5 The main findings of this study are the following: • In the Central American region people continue to migrate to other countries for various reasons. Economic/labour migration remains a constant because of the difficult socio-economic situation and the search for a better standard of living. For its part, the activities of OC generate forced displacement within and outside countries. This cause has been