Covid-19 Response & Filter Hotels: Lessons from Mexico
To prevent the contagion of COVID-19, migrant care shelters implemented a closed-door policy and significantly reduced their shelter capacity, increasing the risk and vulnerability of migrant groups. IOM Mexico responded to this scenario by establishing Filter Hotels in two border areas of the country, allowing migrants to quarantine safely and humanely before resuming their activities.
Beneficiaries
Stranded migrants and returnee migrants in border areas between Mexico and the United States
CwM PODCAST - Episode 4.
Main Actions
- Identifying the establishments that could serve as Filter Hotels.
- Hiring the necessary staff for operating the Filter Hotels.
- Partnerships Management for political and donations support.
- Creating cross-cutting protocols, roughly through tree pillars: Socio-economic, legal assistance and physical and mental health.
Recommendations
- Involve migrant health workers to operate the Filter Hotels, to overcome the lack of local staff.
- Creating and implementing cross-cutting protocols to deal with issues relating to children, gender, and gender-based violence, among others.
- In a similar project, it is important to train staff in community communication and mediation.
- The participation of local leaders for implementing the initiative has made it possible to strengthen local capacity in the management of migratory flows to respond to contingency/crisis contexts.
Contact
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