Borders are human creations that seek to establish unions but, above all, boundaries. What does it mean to be an indigenous nation living in a territory divided by a border? What does it mean to cross a border if you are a woman or a trans person?

Borders are human creations that seek to establish unions but, above all, boundaries. More than being a geographic reference, borders have social, political, cultural and economic implications. Being on one side or the other of a border can make a difference in a person’s quality of life and in the guarantee of their rights. Borders help to create communities but they can also separate them. This is the case of cross-border indigenous peoples, who inhabit territories long before modern borders were established, but who become strangers in their own lands when they cross these imaginary lines.   

Borders determine the possibility of inhabiting and transiting across geographic spaces and become the door that welcomes those who flee their places of origin or the wall that seeks to contain them. Despite their importance, in many parts of the world borders are territories that escape the gaze of the authorities and represent a risk for those who are forced to cross them. Recognizing the importance of borders in today’s global debates, this new edition of the Global South Newsletter takes a closer look at the situation of certain groups whose lives have been marked by borders. What does it mean to be an indigenous nation living in a territory divided by a border? What does it mean to cross a border if you are a woman or a transgender person? The articles and blogs in this issue show how borders and their dynamics can have a differentiated impact on groups that have been historically discriminated against. 

The first two entries explore the gender impacts of migration and border crossing in the Latin American and African contexts. On the one hand, in her article “The sexual exploitation of migrant and refugee women: response and challenges for the State”, Lucía Ramírez Bolívar, a researcher at Dejusticia, studies the violence, particularly that related to sexual exploitation, faced by Venezuelan migrant and refugee women in Colombia, a panorama that is unfortunately replicated throughout Latin America, imposing enormous challenges on the States of the region and their migration and human rights policies. 

On the other hand, the blog by Muyenga Mugerwa-Sekawab – Dejusticia’s Global South Fellow – “Gender Identity and Migration in South Africa: A Layered Experience”, analyzes the obstacles, challenges and discrimination that LGBTIQ+ people, especially trans people, from different African countries face when seeking refuge and settling in South Africa, trying to escape situations of persecution and violence in their countries of origin because of their gender identity. These two contributions allow us to characterize the gender dimensions of migration, as well as to visibilize the challenges that persist in terms of the human rights of women and LGBTIQ+ forced migrants in the Global South. 

The third and fourth entries in the Newsletter refer to transboundary indigenous peoples, i.e. those that have been divided by state borders. The division of their territories impedes free transit through their ancestral sites, hinders their communities’ relationships and affects the unity of their governance systems. This is a very frequent problem worldwide. The United Nations and American Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007 and 2016) provide some general guidelines to respond to the problems generated by the division of indigenous peoples because of national borders. However, State action is required to address the issue. For example, through the implementation of appropriate legal frameworks agreed with indigenous peoples.

This Newsletter presents two cases of cross-border indigenous peoples, one in Colombia and the other in Canada. The article “Indigenous peoples in cross-border mobility. An unknown phenomenon that deserves our attention” by guest columnist Sebastían Hurtado – lawyer for the Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) – shows how despite the fact that the Colombian Constitution recognizes these peoples as binational, there have been insufficient efforts by the State to guarantee the rights that such recognition implies. The blog “Straddling Borders: A Journey of Indigenous Identity and Sovereignty” by Autry Johnson, edited by Carmen Mestizo, refers to the Jay Treaty, signed in 1794 between the United States and the British crown (with the Canadian government as successor), which recognizes rights to transboundary indigenous nations. This blog presents a case of reluctance to apply this treaty that culminated in a successful example of enforceability of rights at the university level. 

The articles and blogs in this new edition of the Newsletter highlight just some of the impacts that borders can have on the lives of individuals and communities. While borders have historically been tools of division and control, they can also be spaces to encounter and construct new forms of community. To this end, it is essential that border policies have an intersectional approach that considers the needs and risks faced by the different populations that cross them. How can we build a world where people can move freely and without risk, regardless of their origin or identity? What can we do so that borders are not walls, but bridges to a more connected and compassionate world? These are some of the questions that the entries in this Newsletter leave us with.