The Migration Information System of the Americas (SIMA by its
Spanish acronym) is being launched today in Mexico.

SIMA is a joint effort of IOM, the Mexican government, and the
Organization of American States (OAS).

SIMA is an extensive digital library focusing on migration in
the hemisphere.  It brings together official and academic
documents, research and studies produced by experts and NGOs,
specialized press articles, references and reviews, audiovisual
materials, conference and seminar reports and other information
classified by subject and geographic areas in the Americas. It
includes several sections such as human rights, legislation and
regulations, migration trends and flows, country and regional
statistics, and migration and economics, amongst others.

SIMA has a user-friendly search engine that provides keyword
searches and links every document to a reference card for accessing
every file through two search channels.  It can be consulted
from any computer with Internet access at "paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.infomigratoria.org">www.infomigratoria.org.

Today's launch ceremony will take place in Mexico City at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Undersecretary Juan M. Gomez
Robledo will present SIMA to an audience of governmental officials,
academics, civil society, and representatives of the diplomatic
corps and international organizations. OAS representative
Ambassador Oscar Maurtua, IOM Chief of Mission Juan Artola and Luis
Herrera-Lasso, Executive Director of COPPAN Group, the institution
in charge of the design and administration of the system, will also
be present at the event.

For more information please contact:

Juan Artola

IOM Mexico

Tel: (5255) 5536 3922 / 3954

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