El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
Uncontrolled gang violence and exploitation forces thousands to flee their homes.
“We had our own bakery in El Salvador, until gangs arrived, and we could no longer sell bread. We were threatened out of our country.”
Raul*, 65, fled with his family from El Salvador to Guatemala
Photo: ©UNHCR/Tito Herrera
For those living in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, everyday life unfolds in the shadow of constant fear.
Please help these families find safety and survive.
Shelter
to protect those who’ve fled with nothing
Cash Assistance
to help families cover basic survival costs like rent and medicine
Education
to provide legal assistance throughout the asylum process
What’s happening in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras?
A complex combination of gang-related violence (including gender-based violence and forced recruitment), food insecurity, increasing poverty, and climate change is driving forced displacement in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The stark choice for thousands is to leave or risk death. They are compelled to flee their homes and risk their lives undertaking dangerous journeys, searching for a safe place to live. They often arrive only with the clothes they are wearing, traumatized and in need of urgent support.
Worldwide, there are now around 600,000 refugees and asylum seekers from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. They are escaping gang violence, threats, extortion, recruitment into gangs or prostitution, as well as gender-based violence (GBV). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people – collectively known as LGBTI – are also fleeing persecution. Many more are displaced multiple times within their own countries or have been deported back home, often into dangerous situations.
Overall, more than a million people from Central America have been uprooted from their homes both within their own countries and in neighbouring ones. Host countries and communities in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Panama, have been doing their best to welcome those forced to flee. With new policies to regularize their stay and allow for their speedy integration, thousands of people have been able to restart their lives. Yet the growing number of people seeking safety is overstretching their hosts’ capacity to cope, straining limited services that also serve the local population.
What does life in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras look like?
Refugees from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala often describe harrowing experiences of violence at the hands of heavily-armed gangs operating with little fear of repercussions. The region remains one of the most dangerous in the world. In El Salvador, although the homicide rate dropped to less than three murders per 100,000 people in 2023, the threat persists as working parents are forced to pay extortion fees known as “war taxes,” leaving them with almost nothing to support their families. In Honduras, by mid-2024, over 247,000 people had been displaced internally due to the escalating violence. Many cities have become battlegrounds for rival gangs.
How can I help?
The easiest way to give is through our secure online donation form. You can give monthly or one-time on behalf of an individual or a corporation. Your donation will help refugees and internally displaced people who need it most – our donors make our work possible. All contributions to the UNHCR are 100% tax-deductible.
What is UNHCR doing to help?
Everyone has the right to seek safety. No one should be forced to leave everything behind, to face unfathomable tragedy. We work tirelessly across Central America to ensure that anyone who flees violence and persecution can seek asylum in other countries or protection in their own.
UNHCR works with the seven governments leading the Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework (MIRPS), seeking innovative solutions to the displacement crisis in Central America, in the spirit of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Sustainable Development Goals.
We work closely with partners, including civil society and faith-based organizations, in high-risk and displaced communities to increase their resilience and support those who have been forcibly displaced. We are also encouraging solutions for internally displaced people, refugees, asylum seekers and deportees with protection needs from Central America.
To this end, we strive to help enhance the capacity of refugee-receiving countries to provide access to fair and efficient refugee status determination procedures. We are supporting safe space networks and shelters across Central America and Mexico so that immediate assistance is available to people on the move and that those in need of international protection are identified.
We also work with other humanitarian organizations and with development agencies to make sure that we reach those we serve in countries of origin, including through programs that seek to empower internally displaced people, children, women, deportees with protection needs, LGTBI people and others affected by violence. We provide life-saving support and cash grants to help displaced people cope.
Furthermore, we promote the local integration of refugees and asylum-seekers in their host countries and help them to use their skills or learn new ones. We are also investing in efforts to curb xenophobia and promote peaceful coexistence among the displaced and their hosts.
Where can I access latest data, maps and reports?
El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras Situation Portal—for latest updates on the crisis overall, including UNHCR situation reports, funding requirements and UNHCR’s support for countries hosting refugees from the region.
Did you know that women, children and unaccompanied minors make up a large portion of those seeking refuge from the North of Central America?
The Ángel Velásquez family show off their bread at the family’s bakery in San José, Costa Rica. They have built a successful business here since fleeing Colombia.
When Ricardo Ángel, Miriam Velásquez and their children fled the armed conflict in Colombia in 2002, they reached Costa Rica with little more than hope. Now 15 years on, the couple run a highly successful gluten-free bakery in the Central American nation’s capital, San José. Despite having their education disrupted by war and flight, their children Alejandro and Adriana are now both successful professionals. Alejandro is a graphic designer and Adriana is a dental assistant. Costa Rica has a tradition of welcoming refugees. During the 1970s and 1980s, when civil wars erupted across the region, it remained peaceful, keeping its doors open to those at risk. The country allows refugees to flourish, providing grants and the right to work and study while their asylum applications are processed.
Photo: ©UNHCR/Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo
Donate Today
Please help refugee families and internally displaced people in the North of Central America.
Donate Today
Please help refugee families and internally displaced people in the North of Central America.