Description
Latin America is experiencing one of the largest migration crises globally, with nearly 8 million Venezuelans displaced by 2024 and a rapidly increasing number of asylum-seekers and refugees fleeing violence, poverty, and environmental degradation in Central America. Women and girls comprise half of these displaced populations, facing heightened vulnerabilities. This paper examines the role of regional organisations in advancing gender-responsive migration governance, focusing on South and Central America. Specifically, it interrogates how frameworks like those under MERCOSUR and the Central American Integration System (SICA) address gendered drivers of migration and their impact on displaced women and girls.
The analysis argues that while regional normative frameworks offer progressive guidelines for gender-responsive governance, their implementation at the national level is undermined by sovereignty concerns, security priorities, and "institutionalised ambiguity." This results in uneven and ad hoc policy practices that fail to safeguard the rights and wellbeing of displaced women and girls. Using a feminist International Relations lens, the paper highlights the paradox of regional migration governance: despite commitments to gender-sensitive policies, states frequently prioritise migration control over rights-based approaches. The paper contributes to broader debates on gender-responsive migration governance in the Global South.
