XVII Annual Meeting of the Regional Conference on Migration Opens in Panama
Officials from the 11 countries that make up the Regional
Conference on Migration (RCM) are this week holding their annual
meeting in Panama City.
During the four-day meeting, which ends later today, Vice
Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Interior and senior migration
officials are focusing on a central theme: Security within the
Framework of Human Rights and Mixed Migration Flows.
IOM Director General William Lacy Swing stressed to participants
that security, human rights, and mixed migration flows, are
critical to manage migration in a manner that best serves the
national interests of host and home countries and migrants
themselves.
Links
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"window.open('http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/media/all-speeches/cache/offonce?entryId=31906', 'mywindow', 'location=1,status=1,scrollbars=1')">Statement
of IOM Director General William Lacy Swing
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of IOM Regional Director for North and Central America and the
Caribbean, Robert Paiva
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"window.open('http://www.rcmvs.org/', 'mywindow', 'location=1,status=1,scrollbars=1')">Regional
Conference on Migration
"Perhaps nowhere else is that challenge more relevant than here
in the Americas, where the nexus between these issues is sharply
felt. This is, after all, the busiest and largest migration
corridor in the world," he said.
According to the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM)
Centre for Migration Studies, Mexico's average number of border
crossings per year has been two million since 2009. An estimated
400,000 of these are citizens from neighbouring Central American
countries.
"Because of the growing involvement of transnational organized
crime networks in migrant smuggling and human trafficking, together
we must do more in the areas of border management and capacity
building to reinforce security systems. But it is equally important
to provide migrants with access to justice systems in order to end
the impunity that many criminal networks enjoy," said Swing.
According to UNODC's 2011 Global Study on Homicide, in 2010 31
per cent of all homicides worldwide occurred in the Americas
– 145,000 deaths, of which 74 per cent were gun-related; and
a quarter attributed to organized crime. The report adds that
in Central America, 1 in 50 males aged 20 will be killed before
they reach the age of 31.
IOM Regional Director for North and Central America and the
Caribbean, Robert Paiva commended the RCM members for the selection
of this year's topic, but cautioned that any action taken should be
guided by the principle that every migrant – regular or
irregular – has human rights that should be respected and
protected.
In 2009-2010, the Commission of Heads of Police Forces in
Central America reported an increase of more than 300 per cent in
the number of identified cases of migrant smuggling, and an
increase of close to 400 per cent in the number of identified cases
of trafficking in persons.
"Clearly, one of the greatest threats for the region in terms of
migration and security is that organized crime groups incorporate
crimes against and at the expense of migrants into their daily
criminal actions. Under no circumstances should this be the
rule rather than the exception. Criminals should receive the clear
message that countries in the region are joining efforts to combat
crime and are willing to fight united, with equal commitment, to
promote the security and human rights of regional and
extra-continental migrants irrespective of their migration status,"
said Paiva.
For the past 16 years, the countries of the RCM (Belize, Canada,
Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and the United States), have
remained committed to continue frank discussion of regional
migration issues, and have undertaken regional efforts to protect
the human rights of migrants and strengthen the integrity of each
member state's immigration laws, borders, and national security, as
well as to support the links between migration and development.
IOM provides technical and logistical support to the RCM
Technical Secretariat and receives its policy direction and
supervision from the incumbent Presidency Pro-Tempore to follow up
on the mandates and instructions issued at the end of the annual
meetings. IOM also implements projects related to migrant smuggling
and human trafficking and provides return assistance to vulnerable
migrants on behalf of RCM member countries.
For information on the Regional Conference on Migration, please
visit their website at:
href="http://www.rcmvs.org" target=
"_blank">http://www.rcmvs.org or contact
Oliver Bush
IOM San Jose
Email:
"mailto:obush@iom.int">obush@iom.int
Tel: 506-2221-5348