IOM supports the exchange of experiences related to migrant children and adolescents in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador

On the 19th of September Guatemala City hosted representatives from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, who jointly with officers from Guatemala, participated in the meeting ´´Exchange of experiences: practices and standards for the protection of migrant children and adolescents´´, in which the efforts made by each of the countries in terms of the attention of migrant children and adolescents were analysed.

Between January and August of 2017, 7.406 girls, boys and adolescents have returned to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

´´This activity is of upmost importance as we are ensuring that all the decision made, prioritize a full compliance with the fundamental rights of girls, boys and adolescents so they can develop to the maximum of their capacities´´, said the Chief of Mission of IOM for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Jorge Peraza Breedy.

In this event, Guatemala was represented by the Technical Inter-Institutional Table for Migrant Boys, Girls and Adolescents and by the Secretariat for Social Well-Being. From Honduras, the Directorate for Children, Adolescence and Family, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended; while El Salvador was represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Directorate for Migration and Alienage. The Mexican representation was in charge of the Municipal Attorney for the Protection of Girls, Boys and Adolescents of Tapachula.

In addition to these representatives, the International Organization for Migration – IOM – extended invitations to participate to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees  and the United Nations Fund for Childhood – UNICEF --.

A key part of the encounter was the presentation of the  Regional Guidelines for the Comprehensive Protection of Boys, Girls and Adolescents in the Context of Migration. This protocol was developed by the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) with the objective of generating regional guidelines for the inter-institutional attention of this population that surmounts short-term actions.

“During the past years, with the support of the Mesoamerica Program, the countries that form the RCM have developed various actions to respond to the necessities and the protection challenges related to the migration of children in the region. Two central axes of work have been the strengthening of the capacities of officers at the borders, so they can improve their response when assisting a migrant child, and the promotion of coordination between institutions and countries. In addition to the advances made at the national level, at the regional level some of the advances related to these axes include the development of the RCM Guidelines and the creation of the Network of Liaison Officers for the Protection of Migrant Girls, Boy and Adolescents. During the encounter, the particpants revised the advances made in each of the countries in relation to the regional guidelines, the good practices that have been implemented and can be replicated, and the challenges that still need to be faced”, affirmed Alexandra Bonnie, Coordinator of the Mesoamerica Program.

The activity was implemented with the support of IOM´s Mesoamerica Program, financed by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the Department of State of the United States of America, with the objective of strengthening the capacities of governments and civil society organization for safe, orderly, and regular migration.

Event: “´´Exchange of experiences: practices and standards for the protection of migrant children and adolescents of México, Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador”.

Place: Bristol Plus Hall, Hotel Hilton Garden Inn, Guatemala City.

Date: 19 of September of 2017.

Time: 8:00 to 17:00.

For more information contact the Communications Officer in IOM Guatemala, Melissa Vega, mvega@iom.int