Uruguay - IOM Director General William Lacy Swing and Uruguay’s Foreign Minister, Luis Almagro, have launched “Positive Migration,” a mass information campaign aimed at raising awareness of the positive effects of migration for the South American country.

The campaign, which is funded by IOM’s Development Fund and Uruguay’s National Directorate of Publications and Printed Matter, will use radio slots and online messaging, as well as billboards on main arteries in the capital and other cities.

“This campaign will undoubtedly reach a large sector of the population, including migrants.  But it will also serve to place the issue of migration firmly within the inter-institutional agenda,” said Diego Beltrand, IOM’s Regional Director for South America.

At the official launch, which took place during an official visit of the IOM Director General, Foreign Minister Almagro reported an increase in the arrival of migrants, with 2.4 per cent of the country’s population of 3.2 million foreign-born. Some 35 per cent come from Argentina; 17 per cent from Brazil; 10 per cent from North America; 7 per cent from Spain; and 4.1 per cent from Peru.

The IOM Migration Profile for Uruguay published in 2012 credits the current period of economic growth and very low unemployment (currently at 5.4 per cent) with an increase in migration flows into the country and the return of Uruguayans abroad. Most of these working age males with a higher level of education than the local, native population.

A specialized office working with returning nationals, recently created within the Foreign Ministry, reports an average of 300 to 350 Uruguayans arriving home each month.

For more information please contact 

Alba Goycoechea
IOM Montevideo
Tel: +598 29168043
Email agoycoechea@iom.int