At the conclusion of the America Summit in Los Angeles yesterday, 20 countries adopted a joint declaration on migration.
“The economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and political unrest in authoritarian countries have led to record numbers of people migrating,” said US President Joe Biden, hosting the Organization of American States (OAS) Summit. “No nation should bear this responsibility alone.”
In view of the large migration movements between South, Central and North America and the Caribbean, the states want to work more closely together. The aim of the joint declaration is to improve living conditions in the countries of origin, to facilitate legal labor migration and to intensify the fight against gangs of people smugglers.
Because of violence and poverty, many people in the region are leaving their homes and looking for better living conditions elsewhere. Around six million have left the crisis-ridden Venezuela alone and settled primarily in neighboring Colombia and other South American countries. Hundreds of thousands of people make their way to the USA from Central America every year.