IOM Nicaragua and the Faculty of Humanities and Communications of the Central American University (UCA) this week signed an agreement to develop an online course on Consular Protection and Human Rights for consular officials at Nicaraguan consulates abroad.

The course aims to strengthen the officials’ theoretical and practical knowledge of migration, with a focus on human rights and gender, and the implications in their consular work.

According to IOM’s Migration Profile, some 800,000 people, an estimated 10 per cent of the Nicaraguan population lives abroad.  Due to the complexity of Nicaraguan migration with multiple destinations in both the South and the North (mainly Central America, the United States and Spain), permanent and circular migration, and feminization of migration flows, but also due toabuses and violations of rights reported by migrants, trained consular officials are vital to provide the assistance and protection needed by migrants.

“We must promote greater involvement of consular officers in non-traditional areas, such as the protection of the rights of migrant workers and access to health care, and to encourage a rapprochement between consular officers, our fellow citizens and local authorities to promote agreements and initiatives for the benefit of the migrant population, which will optimize migration processes as a factor for development, both in Nicaragua and in countries of destination,” said Iury Orozco, Consular Director General of Nicaragua. 

The course is divided into 10 modules: Migration Trends and Characteristics of Nicaraguan Migrants; Framework for Human Rights Protection; Labour Migrants Rights; Efficient Consular Protection; Trafficking in Persons and Protection of Vulnerable Migrants; Gender and Migration; Human Development and Migration: the Role of Diasporas; Legal Framework for Migration in Spain; and the last module will focus on Stress Management for Assistance to Migrants.

The 15 pilot participants in the Nicaraguan Consulate in Spain will have access to all materials and activities through a platform hosted by the Virtual Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and are expected to self-study eight hours for each module, listen to the lectures and complete practical-oriented activities.  The final assignment to pass the course is to develop, as consular officials, a strategy to protect labour migrants’ rights in Spain.  Following the pilot phase in Spain, the three-month course will be available to officials in consulates in the main countries of destination of Nicaraguan migrants. 

“This initiative is part of the capacity building process for an integrated approach to migration that IOM has been promoting, and it adds to the activities that we have developed to enhance the current notion of consular protection into a more proactive one, one that includes the defense and promotion of the rights of migrants,” noted Carmen Paola Zepeda, Head of the IOM Office in Nicaragua.

“UCA as an educational institution has as its mission to contribute to an equitable and sustainable human development in Nicaragua.   In order to respond to these needs, we are pleased to develop this virtual Diploma together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and IOM,” added Dr. Iris Prado Hernández, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Communications of the University.

The initiative is carried out as part the project: Protection of Human Rights of Nicaraguan Migrants in Spain, implemented by IOM in partnership with the General Consular Department of Nicaragua and funded by the IOM Development Fund. 

For more information please contact Alexandra Bonnie, IOM Nicaragua, Tel: +505 227.89.569, Email: abonnie@iom.int.