British School UN 2015

OHCHR
UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child
Public Hearing
Central American Underage
Immigrants Crossing the Mexican/US
Border without their parents

Dear Delegates:
It is our pleasure to welcome you to this years British School MUN. We
are really glad to have the opportunity to address this important UN
Childrens rights Committee. The idea of discussing this recent
humanitarian crisis topic with all of you is important in engaging and
sensitizing ourselves as future decision makers. This conflict is very near

to our countries, but also our hearts because we are underage too.
However, we have been granted education and life opportunities while
these children are in permanent social risk.
We are certainly conscious of the need to be more informed about this
topic. In fact, we chose this topic because we believed it would be
interesting to debate about the region, in which our neighboring
countries are highly involved. Likewise, we hope you all feel
comfortable with this committee mandate and its children rights
protection role.
We expect to achieve possible clever and realistic solutions, including
passionate ideas while debating.
Welcome to our Committee on the Rights of the Child British School
MUN 2015.
Best regards,
Gabriela Navarro: Chair gnavarro@colegiohumboldt.cr
Jose Gabriel Rodriguez, Co-Chair: jgrodriguez@colegiohumboldt.cr
Maripaz Vargas: Co-Chair: mvargas@colegiohumboldt.cr

Humboldt Schule

Statement of the topic:

During 2014, more than 68.000 Central American children and underage
minors between 5 to 17 years old were caught trying to cross the Mexican/US
border without their parents (traveling alone or by men smuggling people
coyotes-), in order to join up with their relatives living in the United States.
The dangerous and difficult conditions that these young people must face
during their travel, the inhumane and risky way their parents used to send
them over the border, and the constant physical and psychological abuse that
they received have called international attention of the media and human
rights organizations.
There are not only negative effects that occur illegally crossing the border,
but there are also serious impacts on these childrens personal integrity. In
addition, these childrens lives are at risk when they are intercepted without
an ID, with no idea concerning their destination. Many of them are sent to the
child protective services, while others are relocated or deported with their
family.
The President of the United States, Barack Obama, has recently called this
problem as an Urgent Humanitarian Situation and has tried to approve a debt
of 3.7 billion dollars to reinforce the security in the border and deal with
hastened deportations. Nevertheless, because of political reasons, the US
Congress did not approve that measure, and the current Congress has pushed
the government to amend another alternative law signed previously by the
former President George Bush Jr. (2008 Act). In legal terms, this act states
that according to the law, underage kids from Central and Latin America
cannot be deported immediately; in fact, the children must be given a court
hearing before being sent back to their home countries. In the meantime, the
kids have the right to be with their relatives or stay in a shelter for 35 days.
The Rio Grande Valley in Texas is one of the most common entrances to the
United States territory. In fact, just at this entrance point were there three
quarters of the minors trying to cross the border where they were caught and
arrested last year. The constantly growing situation has worsened the
political relations between the United States, Mexico, Canada and the north
triangle of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador). The

entire situation is causing a burgeoning amount of migrations from Central

America to the North.

Principal Conflicts.
1. Allocation:
Children and teenagers at social risk are the primary group trying to
cross Central America and Mexico, escaping their native countries due
to the structural violence that has grown in Central America. For
example: Honduras murders valuation is calculated for every hundred
thousand inhabitants as the highest worldwide; in Guatemala, kids live
in extreme poverty in rural areas and some of them are at risk of dying
because the hunger; El Salvador has high statistics in regards to street
violence. In all of these countries, children at social risk are also exposed
to several conflicts such as:

Risk of violation of the life

Torture and inhumane treatment
Kidnapping, sexual, physical and mental abuse.
Human trafficking and smuggling in underage children.
Trafficking of human organs.
Trafficking and drug dealing.
Disorientation, diseases and theft of personal belongings.

The above description prompts us to call this more than an immigration

problem, but a humanitarian children crisis never seen before in this
part of the Latin American region.

2.The background of the runaways:

There are several reasons why these underage people are leaving their
origin countries. At the top of the list are their socio-economical
conditions. Many parents believe that sending their children to cross the
American border will given them a greater possibility of a better life in
the future, education and monetary stability. Furthermore, the families

in the Latin American countries are concerned about not being capable
of raising their kids or simply not wanting to. Some of these minors also
end up at the border because they are escaping their native countries
due to violent treatment and all types of domestic abuse or even
hunger. These children are looking for the American dream, education
and family reunification; nevertheless, some of them are escaping from
their slums to avoid being recruited by local gangs (maras).

3. Main route transportation:

The Death Train:
Instead of using any other regular transportation, underage people
usually use hidden border paths to avoid their identification and
detention. If they are lucky, they will get into the train in the south
part of Mexico. The cargo trains in which the Central American children
usually cross away from the south of Mexico to New Mexico USA, is a
dangerous railroad used for illegal immigrant. People are packed in the
stirrups and in the loin of the wagons. This train is called the beast or
the death train, since it is much more like a trip through hell across the
desolate and hostile landscape that they need to cross in order to reach
their final destination. They pass through dense forests, dry deserts and
rugged mountains on the way. This is a trip in which many of the
anonymous and undocumented passengers, who had left everything
behind, will not survive. For instance, they could suddenly suffer a fall
from the train, or they could be crushed by the wheels, be murdered at
the stations of the trajectory, be caught by the immigration authorities
and deported or brought to the United States to be relocated and
brought back to their origin countries. In the worst of all cases, they
could be captured by an illegal Mexican delinquency group, Los Zetas,
and be forced into drug trafficking.

Crossing the desert:

Furthermore, many of these children try to arrive to the United States
by crossing the desert on foot, which would be a daunting task for
adults, but it is a cruel and inhumane road for underage people. This

difficult journey causes them to get lost in the desert due to

disorientation and lack of food and water. Further, they could easily be
bit by any kind of poisonous animal, namely snakes, or they may simply
fall onto dangerous ground.
Coyotes: Illegal traffickers:
Traveling emigrants are in the hands of the well-known coyotes, who
wickedly take the childrens money and run. They may also assault or
traffic them. Because they are criminal organizations, they make a
profit from kidnapping these children. They then proceed to submit
these children to slave trade, prostitution, organ trafficking and drug
trafficking.

4. Human Trafficking:
Children are easily manipulated and cheated. Therefore, it is very easy
to imagine how these isolated and somewhat illiterate young ones
could suffer from the many illicit activities during their travels. They
could be victims of numerous tortures and murders. While there are
obvious immigration problems here, it is important to point out that
these traffickers are part of a whole industry that illicitly generates
hundreds of millions of dollars.

5.Humanitarian Crisis in the region:

The societies in which these kids were born and raised continues being
unjust. It is strongly divided into two socio-economical groups, the
haves and the have nots. The kids who come from a low socialeconomic level do not have opportunities for success. These children
are emigrating to find a better life, but there is very little knowledge
about the actual situation when they cross the border. Sadly, the
majority of these children will be deported and returned to the places
where they initiated their exodus, where they have been raised without
basic needs or without any hope for a brighter future. This reality will
not change if the governments in each country do not commit to
providing these human rights.

6.Unequal Societies:
Reports have shown that the number of millionaires has grown in the
Central American countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama.
There are over 800 millionaires, and the growth of their fortunes among
all of them is $10.000 million. A similar increase is compared to the
gross internal product (GDP) of the same countries. Nicaraguas
personal wealth is $27.000 million, while the GDP is scarcely superior to
$10.000 million.
In laymans terms: one persons personal fortune could be richer than
his or her entire country. These underage immigrants live in societies
that have failed to create equality and distributive justice. Politically, the
governments are responsible for this ethical defeat and gross violation
of human rights.

Keep in mind:
What is the main reason these kids are crossing the border?
What are the social realities in each of these countries?
What do they expect to find on the other side?
What truly happens, when they cross the United States- Mexican
border?
How can your country fight against this tragedy?

Dear delegates, here are some links below that can be useful and can
help you with your research.
Good luck and we hope that you enjoy our committee!
We are looking forward to meeting you all.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/report/2014/07/24/9439
6/the-surge-of-unaccompanied-children-from-central-america-root-causes-andpolicy-solutions/
http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2014/067.asp
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/unaccompanied-immigrant-childrengrowing-phenomenon-few-easy-solutions
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/what-right-policy-towardunaccompanied-children-us-borders
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/children-danger-guidehumanitarian-challenge-border
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/unaccompanied-children-resourcepage
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRC/Discussions/2012/2012DGDB
ackgroundPaper.pdf