A two-day regional conference on refugee protection and
international migration in the Americas, hosted by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and organized by IOM, the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and the Organization of American States (OAS),
with support from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR), opens on Thursday in the Costa Rican capital, San
José.

The conference, which will be officially opened by Foreign
Affairs Minister Bruno Stagno and Interior Minister Janina Del
Vecchio, will bring together some officials from 20 countries as
well as IOM, UNHCR, OAS, OHCHR, national and international NGOs,
civil society and academia.

Keynote speakers include IOM Deputy Director General Laura
Thompson, and UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Erika Feller.

Participants will look at how the free movement of citizens
within the region and a common approach on migration could provide
tangible responses to the challenges faced by refugees and
migrants.

Regional and international migration flows within and outside
of the region will also be discussed with a special emphasis
on finding ways to promote regular and safe migration flows in
order to reduce irregular migration flows.

The San José conference follows a similar event organized
by IOM and UNHCR last November in Dakar, Senegal, which looked at
refugee protection and international migration in West Africa.

Migratory movements in the Americas have become more complex and
mixed in recent years.  People may travel together, use the
same modes of transport, employ the services of the same smugglers
and are exposed to the same risks and abuses, but their motivations
for moving differ.  For some, the reasons may include
protection concerns forcing people to flee their home countries for
their own security or to protect the integrity and dignity of
themselves and their families.

Global migration movements from, to and within Latin America and
the Caribbean amounts to some 25 million people, which is
equivalent to more than 13 per cent of the world's migrants. 
These movements are mainly intra-regional, with the United States
hosting the highest number of migrants and refugees, but also take
place to countries outside the region, mainly to Europe.

The main themes to be discussed include:

• Protecting human rights of people on the move irrespective of
  status;
• Identification, profiling and referral mechanisms;
• Victims of human trafficking;
• Asylum seekers and refugees;
• Unaccompanied minors; and
• Intra-regional cooperation

This conference is funded by the United States Department of
State Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and the
European Commission.

For more informaiton, please contact:

Ana Beatriz Fernández

IOM San José

Tel: + 506.2221.5348, ext. 136

E-mail: "mailto:afernandez@iom.int">afernandez@iom.int