Translated by Jesús Ronquillo / Circuito Frontera
Ciudad Juarez will host the National Meeting of Migrant Children from December 4 to 6, where national experts will attend conferences and panels that will explore various aspects of this phenomenon.
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The event will be held by the Municipal System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF) at the Cibeles Convention Center, Rubí Enríquez announced during Mayor Cruz Pérez Cuéllar’s regular weekly press conference.
This event is presented as a unique opportunity to address crucial issues related to child migration, and one of the main focuses will be the municipal shelter “Mexico My Home”, where shelter and support is provided to minors while they resolve their migratory situation.
Lucía Chavira, director of the Municipal DIF, anticipated that the meeting will address fundamental issues, such as the human rights of migrant children and adolescents, statistics on migration and the problem of xenophobia.
The importance of sensitizing society to these issues is also highlighted as one of the main goals of the event.
In an additional announcement, the president of DIF, Rubí Enríquez, shared that also there will be the opening of the Felipe Ángeles Center, a shelter designed to house families in mobility situations.
“We feel very proud, beyond the topic that will be discussed, because it is very important, we have many children and adolescents in a situation of migration both locally and abroad, but in addition to that because of the economic spillover that is coming to Ciudad Juarez, we expect 400 to 600 people to accompany us to this activity,” she said.
She pointed out that this new space is the result of the collaboration between the Municipality and the National DIF System, which will be inaugurated in January, as a concrete response to the growing need to provide support to those who arrive at the border in search of a better future.
The Felipe Angeles Center will have a capacity to house 290 migrants, with special priority given to children and adolescents.
The official highlighted the importance of providing a safe and dignified place for families facing mobility situations, underlining the shared responsibility between government agencies and civil society.
Announcement of the opening of this new shelter evidences a comprehensive approach by the Municipal DIF, which not only seeks to address the challenges of child migration through the National Encounter, but also actively engages in the creation of infrastructures aimed at responding to the migration issue as a whole.
