IOM offices in North and Central America have assisted 900
vulnerable migrants, including over 500 minors, to return to their
countries of origin since 2005.

The returns were funded by the Intraregional Fund for Migrants
in Highly Vulnerable Situations, created by the members of the
Regional Conference on Migration or RCM (Belize, Canada, Costa
Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama and the United States) and managed by the IOM
Regional Office in Costa Rica.

The migrants were typically unaccompanied minors under 18 years
of age, pregnant women; people who had suffered serious accidents
or fallen ill; victims of violence, including rape and assault; and
victims of human trafficking.

"This is the only fund created and funded by one of the Regional
Consultative Processes (RCPs)* around the world to assist and
protect vulnerable migrants," explains Salvador Gutierrez, the IOM
Regional Officer who manages the Fund.

The RCM member states also authorize IOM, on a case by case
basis, to assist migrants stranded by natural disasters such as
floods, hurricanes and earthquakes.

Most of the migrants assisted came from El Salvador and
Honduras, and most were helped to return from Mexico and El
Salvador.

"In the past couple of years, IOM has seen an increase in
requests to assist migrant victims of violence.  In the case
of minors, we coordinate very closely with authorities in the
destination country to ensure these children are returned either to
their parents, grandparents, or other family members or to child
protection institutions," adds Gutierrez.

The fund also provides certain support for medicine, crutches,
wheel chairs, canes and other medical needs.

The IOM office in El Salvador has assisted 250 migrants from
Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico to return
home.

The latest group assisted from El Salvador was the Ramirez
family - Ricardo, his wife Josefa and their two children aged 11
and 9. The family asked for assistance to return to Belize,
Josefa's country of origin.

The couple met in Belize in 2002 when Ricardo migrated there to
work in agriculture.  Six years ago the family decided to
relocate to El Salvador. Last year Josefa suffered a stroke and was
hospitalized for a month. Ricardo then lost his job because he had
to care for his ailing wife and children.

"The day I took her home from the hospital the right side of her
body was swollen.  We could not afford to travel to the
capital to for physical therapy; the little money we had was for
medicine and food," recalls Ricardo.

The Belizean Ambassador in El Salvador, Celie Paz-Gonzalez said:
"This case was very compelling.  The living conditions of this
family were extreme, they had no means to survive, let alone pay
for the trip to Belize.  This is when we turned to IOM to step
in and provide return assistance."

"We wanted to go back to Belize because her family is there and
they can lend a helping hand help.  Josefa's older children
are there.  But we could not afford the trip back," adds
Ricardo. 

"When the Embassy of Belize contacted IOM and explained the
situation, we immediately began the necessary paperwork to help
them return to Belize.  There was a real need.  The
father had no job, the children had stopped attending school, it
was a true humanitarian emergency," explains Alia Mata, of IOM El
Salvador who oversaw the return operation. 

(*RCPs bring together representatives of states, international
organizations and, in some cases, non-governmental organizations,
for informal and non-binding dialogue and information exchange on
migration-related issues of common interest and concern).

For more information, please contact:

Salvador Gutíerrez

IOM Costa Rica

Tel: +506 2221-5348, Ext. 139

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

or

Yulissa Guevara

IOM El Salvador

Tel: + 503 2521-0500, Ext. 27

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