Flujos migratorios extrarregionales en tránsito por centroamérica y sus implicaciones para la gestión de riesgos y atención de emergenciasanálisis en costa rica 2015-2021

Resum

The research examines to what extent extra-regional migratory flows in transit through Central America have implied the adoption of new approaches and institutional changes in terms of risk management and emergency response in Costa Rica in the period 2015-2021, with a focus on the most critical moments experienced in the country between 2015 and 2016. The study discusses gaps in addressing the issue of international migration from the theoretical lens of risk, risk management and emergency response and illustrates the application of some of its principles and operational frameworks in addressing unprecedented migratory flows by the National Risk Management System of Costa Rica (SNGR by its acronym in Spanish); in particular, the adoption of certain public policies, operational and response plans at the national and local level. In this sense, one of the most relevant results of the research is the applicability of the concept of complex emergency to such migratory flows, based on the definition and typology of emergencies by attributions: scale, uncertainty, visibility and management attributes (management). As part of the research process an ‘open’ and ‘axial’ coding was applied to interviews with SNGR officials (theoretical sample) which led to the identification of seven general dimensions or recurring themes: 1) scale or dimension of the event; 2) impacts of the event; 3) visibility; 4) level of uncertainty; 5) event response; 6) general assessment of the event from the risk management lens; and 7) future implications. The grouping of these seven dimensions responds to the specific theoretical postulates that are built from the general notion of risk, risk management and other concepts that derive from it, especially the concepts of crisis and complex emergency.