Mexico - During a three-day official visit to Mexico this week, IOM’s Deputy Director General, Ambassador Laura Thompson met with high level government officials as well as civil society organizations and the private sector to discuss migration challenges. Mexico has become a country of origin, transit, destination and return for migrants and is the largest migration corridor in the world.

Ambassador Thompson and Ardelio Vargas Fosado, Commissioner of Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM by its Spanish acronym) kicked off a joint project, funded by IOM’s Development Fund, aimed at increasing the technical capacity of migration officials to manage migration at the administrative and operation levels.

IOM and INM will develop a training curriculum and a long-term strategy to ensure training for an initial 1,500 officials, including internet-based courses, with an emphasis on human rights, gender needs, and the application of international migration mechanisms. 

Ambassador Thompson met with Maria del Carmen Vicente Guillén, Under Secretary for Migration Affairs in the Ministry of the Interior; Ambassador Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, Under Secretary for Multilateral Issues and Human Rights in the Ministry of External Relations, Alejandro Alday, Director General of Human Rights and Democracy; Ambassador Martha Ortiz de Rosas, Special Advisor on Migration and Multilateral Issues; Dr. Raúl Plasencia Villanueva, President of Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, and other government officials as well as mass media, academia, civil society and the private sector.

“Mexico is a vital partner for IOM in the Western Hemisphere. My discussions the past three days have focused on strengthening our cooperation and forging new alliances to address the many migration challenges Mexico faces and to reach our common goal which is to ensure that the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their migratory status, are respected,” stressed Ambassador Laura Thompson, IOM Deputy Director General.

It is estimated that some 160,000 undocumented migrants from Central America transit through Mexico each year on their journey north to the United States. The close to 5,000 kilometer journey from Mexico’s southern border to the northern border with the United States is fraught with many obstacles, including, violence, rape, extortion and other live-threatening situations, especially for unaccompanied minors and women, at the hands of organized crime and criminal gangs.

Since 2009, the kidnapping of migrants has become an important source of financing for criminal organizations along migration transit routes in the country. According to a 2011 study by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH by its Spanish acronym) over 20,000 migrants are victims of kidnapping in Mexico each year.

“By co-sponsoring an inter-agency programme focusing on improving the human security for migrants in transit through Mexico, the Mexican government has proven its seriousness and commitment to reinforcing the respect of human rights for some of the most vulnerable mobile populations,” added Thomas Lothar Weiss, the IOM Chief of Mission in Mexico.

IOM has been present in Mexico since 2005 working with authorities to strengthen the capacity of local governments and civil society organizations that work with victims of trafficking, unaccompanied minors and other vulnerable migrants.

For more information, please contact

Itzel Vivaldo
IOM Mexico
Email: ivivaldo@iom.int
Tel: +52 55 55 36 39 22