IOM organizes the V exchange of the technical network of cross-border articulation on migration between Guatemala and Honduras

Puerto Cortés (Honduras). The International Organization for Migration (IOM) facilitated the Fifth Exchange of the Guatemalan-Honduras Cross-Border Coordination Network, which seeks to guarantee an adequate response to the migration processes between the two Central American countries.

During the meeting, which lasted two days, IOM’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework (MCOF) was presented to the participating institutions, which included both governmental and civil society organizations. The MCOF is a tool to improve the way in which IOM addresses the needs of migrants and refugees and cooperates with government institutions, UN agencies and NGOs so that they can better prepare to respond to crises.

This exchange also served to share good practices developed in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico in caring for migrants during the mixed migratory flows that have taken place in the region since October 2018. "The dynamics of human mobility, especially in the context of so-called migrant caravans, made it necessary to improve humanitarian assistance, legal services, medical and psychosocial care, the professionalization of the staff in charge and the generation of statistical data for decisionmaking by the authorities of both countries," said Jorge Peraza, IOM Head of Mission for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

The Technical Network for Cross-Border Coordination on Migration between Guatemala and Honduras is integrated by the institutions that make up the Local Network on Migration of the Department of Cortés - Honduras, such as UNHCR, the Honduran Red Cross and the Directorate for Children, Adolescents and the Family (DINF), among others; and the members of the Departmental Table on Migration of Izabal - Guatemala, made up of staff from the Casa del Migrante, the Ministry of Education and the Committee to Support Migrants Victims of Trafficking, among others. In total, staff from 40 institutions specializing in the care of migrants.

This cross-border meeting took place within the framework of IOM's Western Hemiphere Program, financed by the bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the Department of State of the United States of America.

This note was originally published on reliefweb.int, and can be found in Spanish at this link: https://reliefweb.int/report/honduras/oim-organiza-el-v-intercambio-de-la-red-t-cnica-de-articulaci-n-transfronteriza