Migration Police in Costa Rica improve their Conflict Mitigation skills in Migration Centers

 
8 March, 2018

The training on Peaceful Conflict Resolution for the Costa Rican Migration Police is essential to ensure adequate assistance to migrants in centers of Temporary Apprehension of Foreigners. 

 

Costa Rica. IOM, the UN Migration Agency, through the Mesoamerica Program, trained for the first time the Costa Rican Migration Police on “Conflict Resolution in Migration Management”, with the objective of strengthening capacities for peaceful conflict resolution.

Twenty officials from national Centers of Temporary Assistance to Migrants and Centers of Temporary Apprehension for Irregular Migrants attended the event. The General Directorate of Migration identified the need for the workshop based on IOM’s experience in Global Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster.

“It is necessary to know and be aware of the histories and situations that migrants who are in these centers have gone through, and to take into account the psychocosial consequences of migration” said Cy Winter, expert in conflict mitigation from the IOM Regional Office for Central America, North America, and the Carribbean.

Participants highlighted the importance of the training. “Many people come from penitentiaries, and they know that they will go through a process until their immigration status is resolved. And they move from one center (penitentary) to another (migratory), where the processes can become extended.” Hence, “it is necessary to understand their situation and put ourselves in their shoes.”

"The social and environmental conditions within migration management mean that the same sources of conflicts can be avoided and mitigated through strategies that combine the role of a responsible authority, and guarantee the rights and dignity of all people apprehended, as well as the safety and welfare of the officials,” explains Isis Orozco, Coordinator of the Mesoamerica Program in Costa Rica.

The workshop was implemented under the Mesoamerica Program, which seeks to contribute to the development and implementation of strategies for regular, orderly, and safe migration that allow the adequate protection of migrants.