Belize

A message transmitted in time can save someone’s life. With this premise, the Commission of Migration Authorities (OCAM) of the member countries of the Central America Integration System (SICA), in conjunction with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), developed a regional workshop on emergency and migratory crisis communication. Migration officials from the areas of communication, press, migration control, and care for migrants from 8 different OCAM member countries, participated in a three-day workshop (May 18, 19, and 20) on the essential role of communication in these issues.  

In recent months there has been a substantial increase in migration flows from Central America to North America, making it increasingly necessary to expand the coverage of secure information channels. Chief among these are the migration information hubs, which in the first quarter of 2021 alone, reported to IOM to have assisted more than 12,000 people in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.   

The United States Government – through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration (PRM) – funded the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Belize’s expansion and operations for “Information Hubs on Migration” in three locations, strengthening the hubs in providing information and services to migrants for safe and orderly migration.

IOM considers that data protection is fundamental to support its operations, as it is key to the respect of human dignity and the right to privacy of individuals. In the framework of January 28, International Data Protection Day, IOM, from the Western Hemisphere Program, shares with the Information Hubs on Migration of the region four key questions and answers on the subject. 

The International Organization for Migration launched the online course "Information Hubs on Migration". The course is free, open to the public and 100% virtual through IOM's E-Campus platform. The main function of the hubs, located in the facilities of municipalities and other local instances, is to provide current, potential or returned migrants with access to reliable information on regular migration channels and to direct them to existing services in the community, to facilitate their protection, integration or reintegration, as the case may be.

Closing an atypical year, the Regional Coalition against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (CORETT) held a virtual meeting during the week of November 23 to analyze the work done in 2020 and to propose the objectives of the Coalition for 2021. The response to the crisis caused by COVID-19 was a key element of the sessions.

In a series of virtual sessions facilitated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), between November 16 and 17, the member countries of the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) met to promote technical dialogue to strengthen knowledge and procedures, so that the preparation and response to massive migration flows are given within the framework of efficient migration management without neglecting respect for the human rights of migrants.