A two-day workshop co-organized by IOM Mexico and the Mexican
National Migration Institute (INM) on aid to migrants provided by
INM’s Grupos Beta ended today with a visit to the Mexico /
Guatemala border.

The Grupos Beta, a government initiative launched in 1991, are
groups that operate primarily in Mexico’s northern and
southern border states, offering advice and humanitarian aid to
migrants. They carry out rescue missions, inform migrants of their
rights and possible dangers along the way, and provide medical and
legal assistance.

In 2011, 21 Grupos Beta assisted more than 280,000 migrants of
different nationalities, mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador. 

The workshop, in the southern border city of Tapachula, Chiapas,
brought together 15 government officials from Guatemala, Honduras
and El Salvador, along with 10 INM officials and IOM experts. Its
objective was to disseminate Grupos Beta experiences and promote
their replication in Central American countries, which also face
significant challenges in relation to irregular migration.

In the past four years IOM has worked in close coordination with
the Grupos Beta, providing training on combatting human trafficking
and on the human rights of migrants. 

The workshop included a discussion of migration trends in Mexico
and the region, examples of legislation to protect irregular
migrants, and field visits to border crossing points where Grupos
Beta operate. Information exchange and best practices were also
shared. 

“As one of the world’s most important transit
migration countries, Mexico has extensive experience in providing
assistance to a multitude of vulnerable migrants.  These
experiences, which include the work of the Grupos Beta need to be
disseminated and may be replicable in countries with similar
migration dynamics,” says IOM Mexico Chief of Mission Thomas
Lothar Weiss. 

The workshop was organized as part of the second phase of the
IOM regional programme to strengthen capacity to protect and assist
vulnerable migrants in Mesoamerica, coordinated by IOM’s
regional office in Costa Rica and financed by the US State
Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration
(PRM). 

For more information, please contact: 

Luis Flores

IOM Tapachula

Tel: +52 962 642 5674 or +52 (1) 962 12 25 469

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

or

Hélène Le Goff

IOM Mexico

Tel. +52 55 55 36 39 22

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