Professor Valeria Marina Valle is a full-time professor with shared affiliation in the Centre for Critical Studies of Gender and Feminisms (CECRIGE) and the Department of International Studies at the Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City. She is a member of the Mexican National System of Researchers. She is a visiting fellow at the Global Migration Centre and visiting lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Master in International and Development Studies at the Geneva Graduate Institute (2025-2026), where she is conducting research on migration and health and gender-based violence against women and girls in the Global South. Her research focuses on International Cooperation for Development and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda with an emphasis on Migration, Health, and Gender; Global Governance of Migration and Health, Global Governance of Gender-based Violence and Maternity and Childhood in prison.
Mexico has been a transit country to the United States for those seeking to achieve the "American dream." However, since the restrictive and criminalizing immigration policies of the US president took effect in 2025, Mexico has increasingly become a destination country for people from Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions of the Global South. At this Migration Talk, Professor Valle explores access to sexual and reproductive health for women, girls, adolescents, and LGBTQ+ migrants in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a region characterized by high migration in Mexico. This study, which addresses human rights from a gender and intersectional perspective, is based on in-depth interviews with migrants to highlight their experiences and the barriers they face in accessing healthcare. By identifying levels of violence that affect their physical and mental health, the study emphasizes the need for public and private actors from different levels to facilitate real access to health services. The final recommendations aim to transform xenophobic rhetoric into concrete actions that ensure the right to health for all migrants.