the ROME – UNICEF is conducting a field mission in Matamoros – a city in the Northern State of Tamaulipas, near the border with the United States, along the right bank of the Rio Grande – to make the source to the urgent needs of children and adolescent migrants. Here there are about 700 children and adolescent migrants who are trying to go in the United States; most of them are asylum seekers, some of them are only there for a week and others for several months. Currently, a population of 2,200 people living in tents with access to latrines, but without educational facilities or other appropriate spaces.

The space child-friendly. The office of UNICEF in Mexico is now responding to the humanitarian situation in Matamoros, creating spaces fit for children, providing psycho-social support, with interventions for early childhood development; coordinating efforts to respond to the needs of water, hygiene and sanitation, including the distribution of kit-dignity; sharing of the relevant information at community level on the importance of the protection of children and adolescents migrants and to prevent the separation of families.

“The kids can’t wait”. “it Is important that the Protocol for the Protection of Migrant Children is implemented by the government of Mexico as soon as possible – said Pressia Arifin-Cabo, deputy representative of UNICEF in Mexico – we are currently monitoring the situation of children and adolescents migrants in Matamoros, and we need to ensure that they are protected from their place of origin, during transit and to their final destination. We must act now because the kids can’t wait”. UNICEF strongly recommends that the Protocol for the Protection of Migrant Children, developed by the Government of Mexico, will be implemented by the institutions involved. The Protocol establishes the necessary actions that the mexican institutions should follow when a child migrant enters the territory to guarantee the respect of his rights.

That little one of 5 years that is from Honduras. In the field of Matamoros near the bridge that borders with the United States, lives Manny, a five year-old child from Honduras that is in Mexico since a very long time, as he says. Without much else to do, play most of the time, but here is not a safe place to do it. “There is uncertainty about what will happen to these children and adolescents. The situation of instability has an impact on their wellbeing and has consequences on their survival and their development,” he said Pressia Arifin-Cabo, Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Mexico. “The anxiety of the children is evident when they are away from their parents, even if only for a moment.”

And a little girl who has unlearned to read. Nallely has left Honduras last September and has made the trip from his native Country to Mexico. He currently lives in Matamoros and is worried about her daughter, nine-year-old because he says that when they left, his daughter was able to read, but now is no longer able to do so due to a prolonged absence from school. She would like her daughter to attend the local school, but do not know how.

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