10 January 2019
ECLAC Reports on Youth Migration, Youth Efforts to Advance SDGs
Photo by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
story highlights

ECLAC launched the 'Atlas of Migration in Northern Central America' during the Marrakech conference on migration.

ECLAC and FAO officials cited dependence on agriculture, poverty, unemployment, familial factors, rights’ violations, violence and crime, and vulnerability to climate change as the main drivers of migration in the subregion.

Youth urged breaking the cycle of poverty and inequality to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDGs.

11 December 2018: Young people under the age of 24 from rural areas make up the majority of emigration from northern Central America, according to a report released by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). Also on youth in the LAC region, an initiative was announced to help advance the SDGs through youth projects tackling poverty and and inequality.

The report titled, ‘Atlas of Migration in Northern Central America,’ was launched on 11 December 2018, in Marrakech, Morocco, on the sidelines of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Global Compact for Migration. It seeks to contribute to the design of public policies, programmes and efforts to achieve “safe, orderly and regular migration” in the LAC region, and provides a detailed perspective on the structural causes of migration in northern Central America.

Launching the report, ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena said the number of migrants from northern Central America increased by 59% between 2000 and 2012. She cited poverty, unemployment, familial factors, rights’ violations, violence and crime, and vulnerability to climate change as the main drivers of migration in the subregion. She added that the number of unaccompanied girls increased by 72% between 2016 and 2017. Kostas Stamoulis, FAO, said the majority of migrants from northern Central America that go to Mexico and the US come from rural families that depend on agriculture.

In order to address the structural causes of migration, Barcena noted, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico are promoting a Comprehensive Development Plan under the auspices of ECLAC.

At a meeting convened under the Concausa 2030 initiative, approximately 50 adolescents from 16 countries in the Americas put forward proposals for overcoming poverty and environmental protection in the region. The Concausa 2030 initiative is organized by ECLAC, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and América Solidaria, to identify and share social innovation projects to advance equality and sustainable development in the region.

During the event on 27 November 2018, youth urged breaking the cycle of poverty and inequality to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. Of the 696 projects submitted by more than 2,000 youth, 17 projects were selected from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, the US, Uruguay and Venezuela. [Publication: Atlas of Migration in Northern Central America] [Selected youth projects (in Spanish)]


related events


related posts