Boosting Young People’s Knowledge and Techniques on Regional Migration Issues
The majority of migrants from the region are young. That reality is why the IOM has held training workshops on migration and youth, in which more than 100 young people from the Mesoamerica region have taken part so far, to learn of the specific risks they and others their age face when migrating irregularly.
The Mesoamerica Program supports efforts made by the Workgroup on Comprehensive Protection for Children in San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Since March 2017, the Mesoamerica Program has had a permanent presence through a local partner, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras’ second-biggest city and an area characterized by having high migratory flows.
Information Hubs Expand their Reach to Border Zone Schools and Institutions
There are now 10 information hubs operating in the Mesoamerican region with the support of the IOM, with one opening last month in Chinandega, Nicaragua. The Mesoamerica Program, together with the national and local authorities of each country, has established these posts in the border areas of Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico. They provided personalized information to about 2,000 vulnerable migrants in 2016 alone.
Completion of the 2017 Specialized Course on Migrant Children in the Region
More than 300 government officials (from migration services, institutes for children and adolescents, consulates, the police and elsewhere) and civil society organizations in Mesoamerica successfully completed the Specialized Course on Migrant Children, developed by IOM, between April and June 2017.
Experts in Emergencies are trained on Assistance to Migrants in Crisis Situations
Five national workshops on assisting migrants as part of emergency preparedness, response and recovery systems trained more than 100 officials from state organizations, civil society organizations, local governments and migrant community leaders in Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Panama Bolsters Preparedness for Migration Crisis with the Support of IOM
The Mesoamerican region experienced a migration crisis in 2016 with the arrival of more than 25 thousand migrant people from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.
In view of that experience, and to strengthen national responses to migratory crises such as this, meetings were held in June and July between Panama’s Ministry of Public Security and IOM. These meetings were conducted under the Mesoamerica Program, with the participation of the Inter-Institutional Technical Committee, with the goal of developing a training manual which sets out a contingency plan and standard operating procedures (SOP) applicable to mixed migratory flows in transit through Panama.
Panama Drafts its National Plan against Human Trafficking
Panama City, Republic of Panama. On the 28th and 29th of June, the National Commission against Human Trafficking held a technical meeting to prepare a National Plan against Human Trafficking for 2017-2022, and to review the Action Protocol for the Unit for the Identification of and Assistance to Victims of Human Trafficking and the Model for the Identification of and Assistance to Victims of Human Trafficking.
“Before taking the first step, inform yourself”: Communities in Mesoamerica act for a regular and safe migration
Community leaders in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, with IOM and community art groups, worked together to offer the people from territories with high rates of migration, a series of awareness-raising activities on the risks associated with irregular migration.
IOM initiates workshops in the region to include measures against trafficking in persons in emergency responses
The International Organization for Migration organized in Nicaragua, with the authorities of the Coalition against Trafficking in Persons of the municipality of Chinandega, a workshop for the strengthening of capacities to prevent cases of trafficking in persons in emergency contexts.
Voluntary Return Program: A mother and three daughters return to Costa Rica
Three girls and their mother, a family of Costa Rican and Nicaraguan origin, were able to return to Costa Rica after living during more than a year in Chile in precarious conditions.