Officials from the 12 countries that make up the South American
Conference on Migration (SACM) are meeting this week in Brasilia,
to exchange information on migration trends in South America, share
experiences, policies and best practices, and carry out
consultations to promote and foster regional cooperation on
migration issues.

At the three-day event opening 19 October, IOM Director General
Ambassador William Lacy Swing, will join Brazil's Acting Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ruy Nogueira, Undersecretary for
Brazilians Abroad, Ambassador Eduardo Gradilone, and senior
officials from ministries  of Foreign Affairs and Interior
from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana,
Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela, as well as
representatives from international and civil society
organizations.

As part of the Conference, a special session will be devoted to
commemorate IOM's 60th anniversary during which an analysis of
current migration challenges will be presented by IOM's Director
General.

This year's SACM focuses on four core issues:  a) migration
trends, new policies and multilateral arrangements in South
America; b) migration and regional integration; c) progress
achieved in the implementation of the South American Plan for Human
Development of Migration; and d) initiatives aimed at strengthening
regional migration management.

It is estimated that some 26.6 million Latin America and
Caribbean (LAC) born people are living outside their country of
birth.  Migrants from LAC accounted for about 15 per cent of
international migration in the world in 2010.  The top
countries of origin in the region are Mexico, Colombia, Puerto
Rico, and Cuba, followed by El Salvador, Brazil, Jamaica, Dominican
Republic, Haiti, and Peru.

Argentina and Venezuela, with 1.4 and 1 million migrants in
2010, respectively, remain the two top destination countries in
LAC, while Mexico has replaced Brazil in third place.  Among
the ten main destination countries in the region, Paraguay, Puerto
Rico and Venezuela have seen a reduction in the number of
immigrants since 2000, while migration to Argentina has
increased.  Ecuador has experienced the highest relative
increase compared to 2000, ranking now as the seventh most
important country of destination.

In the last decade, South American countries have developed a
number of agreements, programmes and regulations that aim at
facilitating intra-regional migration and promote the human rights
of migrants. Significant progress has been made in several
countries by putting in place migration policies and required norms
in areas such as migration management, migrant regularization and
protection of migrants abroad, as well as increased dialogue with
civil society groups and networks with the purpose of strengthening
initiatives seeking enhanced rights of migrants.

The SACM, which met for the first time in Lima in 1999, is the
principal inter-governmental forum for political dialogue on
international migration in South America.  Since then, annual
meetings have been held in Buenos Aires (2000); Santiago de Chile
(2001); Quito (2002); Montevideo (2003); La Paz (2004);
Asunción (2006); Caracas (2007); Montevideo (2008), Quito
(2009) and Cochabamba (2010).

The SACM is organized with the support provided by IOM, which is
in charge of its Technical Secretariat which provides input for
governments' discussions.

For more information, please contact:

SACM Technical Secretariat

E-mail: "mailto:csmsecretariatecnica@iom.int">csmsecretariatecnica@iom.int

Jorge Peraza

IOM Buenos Aires

Tel: +54 11 5219 2033

E-mail: "mailto:jperaza@iom.int">jperaza@iom.int

or

Niurka Pineiro

IOM Washington

Tel: +1 202 862 1826, Ext. 225

E-mail: "mailto:npineiro@iom.int">npineiro@iom.int