Argentina - IOM is providing training on international migration to 30 government representatives from 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries. The 39th edition of the Inter-American Course on International Migration started in Mar del Plata, Argentina this week (6/3) and will run through 21 March.

The IOM course, which has trained nearly 850 government officials over the years, has 20 leading experts and scholars in the migration field participating this year.

IOM's Regional Director for South America, Diego Beltrand said that the course helps to train government officials on migration policies – both from free mobility and migrants’ rights perspectives. Officials can apply their expertise not only to the policies of their states, but also in the multilateral fora where migration is discussed, he noted.

Counsellor Ana Cristina Saíno, head of the International Migration Directorate of the General Directorate of Consular Affairs at Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highlighted the importance of training officials in charge of migration and consular matters.

She noted that Argentina is committed to the respect and protection of migrants’ human rights, and recalled the words of Chancellor Susana Malcorra, who said on the occasion of the High-Level Meeting on Refugees and Migrants held in September 2016 in New York: “For Argentines, migration is part of our social DNA and has marked the social, political and cultural organization of our country since the beginning.”

The course consists of six modules on topics including: understanding migration processes, international protection of migrants, instruments of migration governance as well as policies and programs of international migration. It also focuses on international dialogue and regional integration processes.

Pablo Ceriani, Vice President of the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW), noted: “Training on human rights is an essential step towards the design of integral, legitimate and effective migration policies.”

José Fernando Rubiano, Advisor of the Colombia Nos Une Program of the Ministry of Foreigner Affairs of Colombia described the course “as a fundamental pillar to understand migration in Latin America and valuable tool to continue formulating effective migration policies to migrants.”

The course is also being attended by experts from UNHCR, UN OHCHR, the Institute for Public Policy on Human Rights (IPPDH) of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and the Scalabrini International Migration Network.

More information about the course is available here in Spanish: http://robuenosaires.iom.int/sites/default/files/publicaciones/Brochure_mardelplata.pdf

For further information, please contact Juliana Quintero at the IOM Regional Office in Buenos Aires, Tel. + (54) 11 5219 2033, Email: juquintero@iom.int