The Diplomat
The Club de Madrid, the Organization of American States and Equilibrium CenDE have announced the upcoming launch of a report to “change narratives and debunk myths” about migration in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The report Deconstructing myths and negative narratives around migration, to be launched on January 19, analyzes, through the experiences of Colombia, Peru and Mexico, “how the discourses surrounding migration affect public migration policies and the practices and ways in which authorities and the host population react to migrants,” the three organizations said in a press release.
“The Americas is, without a doubt, a region of migrants, a region where voluntary migration, but also in many cases forced migration, is part of our past and present history,” the document states. “The Americas host a total of 75 million migrants, close to 650,000 recognized refugees, more than two million refugee claimants and more than eight million internally displaced persons,” continues the executive summary of the report, advanced by the three organizations.
“Within this complex context, recent years have seen a growing trend of narratives that dehumanize migrants,” the document states. “Polarization and populism have permeated the political discourse with anti-migrant narratives, with the expectation of reaching new audiences and political gains, exploiting the feelings of fear, uncertainty and frustration of citizens in the face of the social deficiencies and shortcomings that public institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean have not been able to resolve,” it warns.
In addition, the arrival of COVID-19 “emerged in the Latin American region at a time of politicization of migration, with important challenges to guarantee the social rights of the migrant and refugee population”. “However, this crisis scenario can be an opportunity to embark on new narratives and transformation of narratives that arise from these moments of exceptionality,” say the three organizations.
For all these reasons, and in the framework of International Migrants Day, which was celebrated yesterday and with which “the United Nations recognizes migration as a courageous expression of individual determination to overcome adversity and seek a better life”, the three organizations want to “make visible that myths, prejudices and narratives can aggravate the situation of migrants, contributing to strip them of their most basic rights, and putting their lives, safety and integrity at risk”.
The report was compiled by collecting and analyzing messages about migration and migrants posted by political leaders and public servants, institutions and political organizations in each country on the social network Twitter. A total of 299 accounts were selected and nearly 5,000 messages issued between March 2020 and March 2021 were analyzed.
In addition, thanks to the contributions of the OAS Department of Social Inclusion and the Members of the Club de Madrid (in the framework of the Shared Societies project), the report offers recommendations “to build positive narratives that lead to inclusive migration public policies and political and social leaders capable of explaining them to citizens”. The Vice President of the Club de Madrid and former President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, has been involved in the realization of this report.
