Argentina - The IOM Regional Office for South America and MERCOSUR’s Institute of Public Policy in Human Rights are this week holding a three-day training workshop for government officials focusing on the human rights of migrants.

The training, starting today and taking place in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, is part of the IOM project: “Strengthening Capacities for the Promotion and Defense of the Human Rights of Migrants in Vulnerable Situations in South America (PRODEHSA)”, funded by IOM’s Development Fund.

The workshop aims to promote and strengthen the knowledge of officials related to human rights standards, in order to comply with MERCOSUR’s mandate of promoting and protecting the human rights of migrants and their families.

The training will provide officials with the tools to implement a human rights-centered approach in their respective areas of responsibility.  It also seeks to encourage and ensure actions free from any type of discrimination. 

This week’s session is bringing together officials of MERCOSUR Member States Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, together with officials from Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, which are Associate Member States.

Some of the topics to be covered include international law and international mechanisms for the protection of human rights, principles of equality and non-discrimination, procedures for determining the protection needs of migrant children, regional migration agreements, due process and access to justice in matters of migration, standards on deprivation of liberty, access to economic, social and cultural rights, specific vulnerabilities of migrant women, and human trafficking.

South America, which from the late nineteenth century was characterized as a region of destination for migrants, became a country of origin for migrants between the 1970s and until the late 1990s.  During that period, hundreds of thousands of migrants left the region looking for new opportunities in Europe (mainly Spain and Italy) and the United States.

In the past two decades, there has been a decline in the number of South Americans migrating overseas.  Newer trends include the return of South Americans to their countries of origin, and the arrival of migrants from the region and from neighboring countries. 

IOM Uruguay is working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the resettlement of refugees from Syria. The first group of Syrian refugees arrived in Uruguay in September.

MERCOSUR is a sub-regional bloc created to promote free trade and the movement of goods, people and currency.

For more information, please contact

IOM Buenos Aires

Jorge Gurrieri
Email: jgurrieri@iom.int

or

Magdalena Mactas
Email: mmactas@iom.int
Tel: +54 1196 73 56 160