Panama: IOM collaborates with Morgan & Morgan to strengthen access to legal tools for migrants

 
Panama
12 November, 2020

On October 27, IOM launched a new initiative to strengthen social inclusion and access to legal channels for migrants residing in Panama. In cooperation with the country office of the international law firm Morgan & Morgan, IOM is developing a series of webinars to share information on how to access social services and provide legal guidance to migrants in Panama.

 

In recent years, Panama has seen an increase in the number of migrants from South and Central American and Caribbean countries, as well as the presence of new profiles. Although a proportion of these people only transit through Panama, another part is choosing Panama as a destination country, which is why IOM is strengthening its access to reliable and official information and services.

 

The initiative includes legal orientation sessions on various topics of interest to the target audience, including immigration regularization processes, proceedings for migrant workers, family law (custody and upbringing, alimony, among others) and housing (rights and obligations of tenants and landlords, for example).

 

Migrants will have the opportunity to ask general questions and review their individual regularization processes with legal experts. In principle, it is expected that some 550 migrants will be reached through individual and group sessions, half of them from Venezuela and the rest from the aforementioned areas of origin. 

 

This initiative is supported by IOM under the Western Hemiphere Program, funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, and is carried out in conjunction with the Response for Venezuela Platform for Migrants and Refugees.