A first group from over 500 federal and local officials working directly with irregular migrants transiting through Mexico will this week begin a three-week IOM training course to help them to identify and aid migrant victims of kidnapping.

The training will seek to strengthen inter-institutional cooperation to ensure migrants’ rights are protected under Mexican law.  It will also clarify the roles of different authorities, including migration officials, police and prosecutors.

It is estimated that some 400,000 irregular migrants from Central America transit through Mexico each year on their journey north to the United States. 

Once in Mexico, migrants attempting to reach the United States face a 3,000 kilometer journey fraught with many obstacles, including violence, rape, extortion and other threats. Unaccompanied minors and women are particularly at risk.

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) over 20,000 migrants are victims of kidnapping in Mexico each year.

The training sessions are one of the main components of the one-year project: “Capacity Building in the Prevention of Migrant Kidnapping and Assistance to Victims of Kidnapping in Mexico” which is financed by IOM’s Development Fund and the Mexican National Migration Institute.

In preparation for the training, IOM staff visited the southern states of Oaxaca, Tabasco and Veracruz in order to identify best practices, as well as the main challenges faced by institutions involved with migrants in transit through Mexico.

The field visits, as well as a thorough review of current legal instruments pertaining to irregular migrants and a compilation of IOM experiences in other regions, resulted in a report: “Guide to Best Practices for the Assistance and Protection of Migrant Victims of Kidnapping in Mexico: An Inter-institutional Coordination Perspective,” which will be the basis of the 15 training sessions the officials will attend.

“The Mexican Government has designed a series of ground-breaking legal instruments to protect irregular migrants in transit and respond to the increasing threat of organized crime.  However, these laws are not always correctly implemented at the operational level.  It is important to work with the federal government in order to strengthen the capacities of local officials who are in direct contact with these migrants,” says IOM Mexico Chief of Mission Thomas Lothar Weiss.

The project also includes the provision of direct assistance, including shelter, food, medical and psychological aid, transport and necessary documentation to migrant victims of kidnapping.  

IOM Mexico, working in close coordination with government institutions and civil society organizations, has already provided assistance to 20 migrants in need.  

For more information, please contact 

Rodolfo Franco
IOM Mexico
Tel. +52 55 55 36 39 22
Email: rfranco@iom.int