A two-day regional conference on refugee protection and international migration in the Americas, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and organized by IOM, UNHCR and the OAS, with support from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), opens on Thursday in the Costa Rican capital, San José.
The conference, which will be officially opened by Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Stagno and Interior Minister Janina Del Vecchio, will bring together some officials from 20 countries as well as IOM, UNHCR, OAS, OHCHR, national and international NGOs, civil society and academia.
Keynote speakers include IOM Deputy Director General Laura Thompson, and UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Erika Feller.
Participants will look at how the free movement of citizens within the region and a common approach on migration could provide tangible responses to the challenges faced by refugees and migrants.
Regional and international migration flows within and outside of West African region will also be discussed with a special emphasis on finding ways to promote regular and safe migration flows in order to reduce irregular migration flows.
The San José conference follows a similar event organized by IOM and UNHCR last November in Dakar, Senegal, which looked at refugee protection and international migration in West Africa.
Migratory movements in the Americas have become more complex and mixed in recent years. People may travel together, use the same modes of transport, employ the services of the same smugglers and are exposed to the same risks and abuses, but their motivations for moving differ. For some, the reasons may include protection concerns forcing people to flee their home countries for their own security or to protect the integrity and dignity of themselves and their families.
Global migration movements from, to and within Latin America and the Caribbean amounts to some 25 million people, which is equivalent to more than 13 per cent of the world's migrants. These movements are mainly intra-regional, with the United States hosting the highest number of migrants and refugees, but also take place to countries outside the region, mainly to Europe.
The main themes to be discussed include:
- Protecting human rights of people on the move irrespective of status;
- Identification, profiling and referral mechanisms;
- Victims of human trafficking;
- Asylum seekers and refugees;
- Unaccompanied minors; and
- Intra-regional cooperation
This conference is funded by the United States Department of State Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and European Commission.
For more informaiton, please contact Ana Beatriz Fernández, IOM San José, Tel: + 506.2221.5348, ext. 136, Email: afernandez@iom.int
Copyright © IOM. All rights reserved.
