Montevideo – Representatives of 21 Member States of the two Regional Consultative Processes on Migration (RCPs) of the Americas, the South American Conference on Migration (SCM) and the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM), met this week (8-9/ 05) in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The plenary meeting of both RCPs also included the participation of IOM, the UN Migration Agency as Technical Secretariat of the SCM and support agency for the Technical Secretariat of the RCM, as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as Observer Organizations.

This is the first time that all the Member States of both RCPs have met to address migration in the hemisphere. The two main issues discussed were the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the extra-regional and extra-continental migration flows.

Moreover, it allowed the exchange of experiences of the States in dealing with extra-regional and extra-continental migration flows and identifying topics of common interest about these dynamics.

During the opening ceremony, Ariel Bergamino, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay and Presidency Pro Tempore of the SCM, underscored the importance of the meeting for the construction of consensus between the two regions, the exchange of experiences and international cooperation.

Luis Miguel Hincapié, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Panamá and Presidency Pro Tempore of the RCM, welcomed the progress, projects and achievements made jointly with other countries in areas of social, economic and cultural rights of migrants and their families.

Hincapié highlighted the contributions that both Regional Consultative Processes have given in the formulation of regional actions that improve how migration is addressed by the international law and the human rights.

"Achieving deeper regional coordination and cooperation allows us to improve migration governance, aimed at creating operational cooperation mechanisms by applying best practices," Hincapié added.

The SCM and the RCM are two of the 16 RCPs around the world that bring together representatives of States at the regional level, in a space of non-binding dialogue for the exchange of information and good practices on issues of common interest related to migration.

For more information, please contact Juliana Quintero at the IOM Regional Office in Buenos Aires, Tel. + (54) 11 32488134, Email: juquintero@iom.int or Jorge Gallo at the IOM Regional Office in Costa Rica, Tel: + (506) 2212 5352, Email: jgallo@iom.int