Honduras - Thirty-eight consular officials from Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama, are this week meeting in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, to receive training and discuss strengthening regional dialogue to better protect the human rights of labour migrants in destination countries.

The two-day workshop, which is part of the IOM Regional Project Improving Labour Migration Management in Central America and the Dominican Republic funded by the Ministry of Labour of Canada, is focusing on promoting regional dialogue to strengthen consular officials’ knowledge related to protection and the human rights of migrant workers.

The participating officials from 9 of the 11 countries that make up the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) will go in-depth on the following themes:

• Ethical hiring practices as a tool to protect the human rights of migrant workers;
• Recognition and validation of diplomas and skills brought to host countries by migrant workers;
• The feminization of migration, focusing on ways to better protect women migrants who are more vulnerable to violence in the workplace;
• The role of information sharing to ensure protection of human rights;
• Access to social security;
• The integration of migrant workers in the host countries, challenges and opportunities.

According to data published by the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), more than 20 million migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are working outside their countries of origin. Some 4.08 million of them are moving between developing countries.  ECLAC estimates that more than 80 per cent of the total number of migrant workers from the LAC region are low-skilled workers.

The IOM regional project also aims to produce a plan of action to ensure the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrant workers as part of the Network of Consular Officials for Consular Protection of the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM).

For the past 17 years, the 11 countries of the RCM (Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the United States) have remained committed to continue frank and honest discussions on regional migration issues, and have undertaken regional efforts to protect the human rights of migrants and strengthen the integrity of each member state's immigration laws, borders and national security.

For more information please contact

Evelyn Andino
IOM Honduras
Tel: + 504.222.01 104
Email: eandino@iom.int