Officials from nine countries are gathered this week in San
Salvador for a three-day training workshop focusing on improved
management of labour migration with an emphasis on the human rights
of migrant workers.

The 24 participants from the ministries of labour and foreign
affairs and migration directorates of Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican
Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and
Panama discussed options for the design of labour migration
policies, international and regional legal frameworks, labour
migration trends in Central America, the Dominican Republic and
Mexico, temporary, circular and cross-border labour migration, and
labour migration and development.

“IOM believes that humane and orderly labour migration
schemes benefit migrants, their families and communities, and so
the focus of this training is to provide officials in this region
with the tools and knowledge necessary to ensure successful labour
migration programmes,” explained Norberto Girón, IOM
Chief of Mission in El Salvador.

 

Labour migration is an important factor in the region with an
estimated 30 per cent of the labour force in the participating
countries made up of persons under the age of 25.

The vast majority of intra-regional labour migration flows are
temporary and supply the needs of the agricultural and construction
sectors.  Therefore, migrant workers cannot count on stable
employment and income, and authorities face many integration
challenges including ensuring workers’ rights and access to
social services.

IOM’s Regional Labour Migration Officer, Ricardo Cordero,
added: “It’s vital for participants in these workshops
to recognize the importance of having policies in place so that
labour migration initiatives can ensure the human rights of
migrants, include a gender component, and provide access to social
services.”

This week’s training was organized by IOM with support
from the Government of El Salvador, the Ibero-American General
Secretariat, the Spanish Agency for International Development and
Cooperation, the International  Programme for Professional
Labour Administration of the Government of Canada, and the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean through the Latin
America and Caribbean Demographic Centre, and in co-sponsorship of
the Secretariat of Central America Integration.

The training was developed using IOM’s Training Modules
for Labour Migration Management in Latin America, developed in
2011, which follow the guidelines in the IOM-OSCE-ILO Handbook on
Establishing Effective Labour Migration Policies.

In the past ten years IOM labour migration experts have provided
training for some 35,500 persons. 

For more information, please contact

Adriana Granados

IOM El Salvador

Tel: +503.2521.0535

Email: "mailto:pressiomsansalvador@iom.int">pressiomsansalvador@iom.int