Mexico has received 124 Afghan nationals who requested humanitarian protection, Mexico’s foreign ministry announced Wednesday in press statement.
The group of Afghan nationals who arrived early Wednesday at Mexico City International Airport are made up of media workers and their families whose lives are in danger. The Foreign Ministry said travel and living costs during their stay in Mexico will be covered by private sponsors and civil society organizations.
“The arrival of this group of Afghan citizens is the result of joint work between the Mexican embassies in Iran and Qatar, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, and other entities of the federal government, whose support has been invaluable in protecting the lives of these people,” the statement said.
“This decision is congruent with the historical position of Mexico,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said, “it’s about those who are risking their lives to inform, to communicate; who are committed to freedom of expression.”
“I received reporters and local staff members from many media who have applied for humanitarian visas to Mexico due to the latest events in Kabul, Afghanistan. They arrived with their families, 124 people in total, including minors, after 20 hours of flight,” Ebrard tweeted.
The director of International News for the New York Times, Michael Slackman, was among those who thanked Mexico for “the invaluable support provided to our Afghan colleagues and their families,” and highlighted “the rapid dispatch by Mexico’s government of safe transportation for journalists.”
Earlier, CNN reported that five women from Afghanistan’s renowned robotics team also arrived in Mexico on Tuesday.