Some 80 journalists, lawyers, judicial staff, public officials,
NGOs and migrants living in the northern San Carlos region, who
work with migrant populations, are gathering today to share
experiences and lessons learnt, and receive awareness training on
migration-related issues.

Today’s session, carried out in cooperation with the
Supreme Court’s National Commission of Justice (CONAMAJ by
its Spanish acronym), the European Union, the German cooperation
Agency (GTZ), UNICEF, UNHCR and the International Human Rights
Center for Migrants, aims to provide information, raise awareness,
and promote initiatives to strengthen the respect of
migrants’ rights in the legal framework, as well as in the
media and amongst the general public.

Official estimates place the number of migrants in Costa Rica at
250,000, but unofficial estimates range between 400,000 and 500,000
irregular migrants in the country; 90% from Nicaragua, followed by
Colombia and other nationalities.

IOM’s Regional Representative in Costa Rica, José
Pires said, “The lack of information and knowledge about
migration in the country has led to some negative attitudes towards
migrants.  This is why IOM believes that training those
working in the judicial sector and journalists, who can reach the
general population with objective information about the reality of
migration, is vital.”

The first of four awareness raising sessions scheduled to take
place this year in Costa Rica was held in April with journalist
from Guanacaste.  The participants discussed how to write
migration-related news stories with a focus on respecting the human
rights of migrants.

For more information contact:

Jessica Saavedra

IOM San José

Tel: (506) 221.5348

E-mail: "mailto:jsaavedra@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">jsaavedra@iom.int