In recent years, the nature of South-North migration in the Americas has considerably evolved. A growing number of families and unaccompanied minors are fleeing violence, high rates of crime and natural disasters, turning what was previously considered as principally economic migration into a full-scale humanitarian crisis.

Since, Mexico - the main transit country to the North - has introduced humanitarian visas for victims of violence and has eased public policies for asylum seekers. In 2017, 14,596 people applied for asylum in Mexico, an increase of 66% compared to the previous year. There is also a diversification of migrants’ regions of origin, which today include the Caribbean, South America and Africa.

These people are particularly exposed and often lack access to crucial information that is vital to strengthen their security and make their rights accessible.

Through its involvement in several protection and assistance projects, TSF has demonstrated that environmental factors such as location, context are a central element for an appropriated response to the needs of exposed populations.

For this specific context, TSF has developed a connected information diffusion solution designed around three criteria:

- Universality (compatibility with conventional TV screens regardless of the country of implementation);
- Low bandwidth consumption which can be optimised for satellite, 2G, 3G;
- Deployable on a large scale through a unified online information management platform.

In Mexico, Télécoms Sans Frontières has been working alongside its partner FM4 Paso Libre, coordinating organisation of the REDODEM - Red de Organizaciones Defensoras de Migrantes (Network of Migrant Defence Organisations) to set up this information dissemination system.

This system has been installed in five strategically identified centres covering the North and South of Mexico as well as the western transit route.

TSF’s objective is to enable the dissemination of reliable and regularly updated information concerning important issues on migrant rights and duties, safety rules and health data, as well as alerts about events that can endanger the lives and integrity of individuals.

The solution developed allows for informed decision-making and, consequently, helps to reduce the vulnerability of those fleeing violence, while strengthening the coordination of institutions seeking to serve them.

The source of this information is provided by international and national organisations involved in the management of migration crises such as the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), FM4 Paso Libre, Centro PRO Derechos Humanos and Doctors of the World. The administrator of the system, supported by TSF, remotely ensures a regular update of content from the FM4 centre.