Mexico - Last week the municipality of Palenque in Chiapas, southern Mexico, inaugurated a new Bureau of Assistance for Migrants and Refugees, which will provide information and support to vulnerable migrants and refugees.

The initiative, by the Palenque Mayor's Office and the Secretary for the Development of the Southern Border and Liaison for International Cooperation of the State of Chiapas, is supported by IOM and the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) through their Mesoamerica Program.

The Palenque Bureau is the tenth information and assistance counter to be established in border areas of Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico with the support of the Mesoamerica Program.

In the following months, at least four more counters in Nicaragua and other Central American countries will open. This year, over 1,500 migrants have been assisted at these offices.

The service in Palenque aims to identify vulnerable migrants to provide information and assistance based on the specific needs of each case; to provide appropriate referrals; and to establish a primary institutional coordination body for the care of migrants.

The inauguration was attended by the Secretary for the Development of the Southern Border, Adolfo Zamora; the Municipal Secretary of Palenque, Samuel Luna and IOM Chief of Mission in Mexico, Christopher Gascon. Staff from the National Institute of Migration, the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) and UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, also attended.

"This office will empower the public servants of Palenque in assisting vulnerable migrants, contribute to the security and defense of the human rights of migrants, and contribute to social cohesion between the migrant population and the community," said Gascon.

For further information please contact Claudette Walls, IOM Mexico, Tel: +52 962 642 56 74, Email: cwalls@iom.int.