FOPREL and IOM Inaugurate Training Program in the Region on Migration due to Climate Change with a Gender Perspective with the Costa Rican Legislative Congress

San Jose-06/25/24. With the goal of developing technical skills and specialized knowledge on climate change migration issue, members of the Forum of Presidents of Legislative Branches of Central America and the Caribbean (FOPREL), started a program of national workshops with the technical assistance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

For Paola Zepeda, IOM Regional Project Coordinator, "migration for climate and environmental reasons affects countries of the region in complex and varied ways, which is why IOM welcomes these initiatives that integrate a gender approach to policies and legislation. They ensure inclusive and equitable responses to fairly face the challenges that climate change imposes".

Mr. Ariel J. Alvarado, Executive Secretary of FOPREL highlighted the work of the Forum on legislative matters in the framework of migration with a special focus on Human Rights and Climate Change as a FOPREL's agenda item. He also explained that this workshop held in San José, Costa Rica on June 25 and 26 at the Legislative Assembly is the first of the program, continuing in July in Honduras and the rest of the FOPREL member countries.

The workshop had and participatory approach and included presentations by experts, case studies, as well as sessions for the exchange of tools and practices in international law, for the analysis of legislation and public policies that consider both climate change and environmental migration, as well as  gender perspective. This training program is part of the follow-up to the agreements adopted by the participants when the Memorandum of Understanding between IOM and FOPREL last March (read more here).  

The activity was coordinated by IOM with funding from the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) of the U.S. Department of State and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and is aligned with international instruments related to migration, climate change and human rights such as the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (goals 2, 5 and 13), and targets 10.7 and 13.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).