Honduras - IOM has opened two fully equipped training units to build the capacity of some 600 Honduran officials working with migrants at the National Institute of Migration (INM) and the Directorate for Children, Youth and Family (DINAF).

The units were officially opened by Honduran Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Human Rights, Justice, Interior and Decentralization, Clarissa Morales; Executive Director of the INM, Carolina Menjivar; the General Secretary of DINAF, Monica Hidalgo; and IOM Chief of Mission for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras Jorge Peraza Breedy.

"This unit will enhance our ability to constantly improve the services we provide to migrants, specifically in the areas of security and human rights. It will also be available to the institutions with which we work on migration, such as Task Force led by the First Lady," said INM’s Carolina Menjivar.

“The units, which have been incorporated into INM and DINAF as new departments to ensure their sustainability, will enhance the skills of officials and contribute to the generation of activities, plans and programmes that protect migrants’ rights,” said IOM’s Jorge Peraza Breedy.

IOM provided both units with office furniture, computer equipment and teaching materials. It also provided 250 copies of Honduras’ Law on Immigration to INM.

The initiative is part of the IOM’s regional programme Strengthening Capacities to Protect and Assist Vulnerable Migrants in Mesoamerica, implemented by IOM in the region since 2010 with funding from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).

For more information, please contact Alba Miriam Amaya at IOM El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Tel: +503 2521-0556, Email: aamaya@iom.int