IOM strengthens efforts in migration governance in Quintana Roo (Mexico) and Belize

Quintana Roo, Mexico - In August 2019, different efforts were made in Quintana Roo, as a key region in terms of intra- and extra-regional migratory flows, to strengthen binational work on migratory issues, aiming to provide information on safe migration to people in the area. One of the activities was the third Belize-Quintana Roo Cross-Border Working Meeting and the opening of the Migration Information Hub in the municipality of Othón P. Blanco.

At the cross-border meeting, authorities from both countries recognized the need to improve inter-institutional mechanisms, communication and response mechanisms in order to provide better services to migrants. They also discussed progress on the 2018 Work Plan. 

Another of the needs discussed was the exchange of information to provide guidance on regular migratory processes, both for entry into Mexico and into Belize. Discussions were also held on joint actions to prevent trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.

The meeting was attended by the State Human Rights Commission of Quintana Roo (CEDHQROO); Dr. Luis Gilberto Montero Maldonado, Honorary Consul of Belize in Quintana Roo; Mr. Edmund Zuñiga, Vice-Minister of Migration and Nationality of Belize; the City Council of Othón P. Blanco; the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Quintana Roo; Ms. Anne Marie Thompson, Labour Commissioner of Belize; the National Institute of Migration; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belize; the Embassy of Mexico in Belize; and ECOSUR Q.ROO, among others.

In the same region, a new Migration Information Hub was inaugurated on 15 August in southeastern Mexico. The hub can provide information to the population, and particularly to Belizean migrants. In addition, its establishment will be used to hold community fairs to fully meet the information needs of people in the area.

The objective of extending IOM's Information Hub network is to strengthen the authorities' capacity to attend to and follow up on migration issues. For this reason, prior to the opening of the hub, a training session was held with 50 public officials, who learned more about the functioning of the network of information hubs, protection mechanisms, measures to combat human trafficking and the processes of regularization of migration in Mexico.

Both activities were possible thanks to the work of the Western Hemisphere Program, and the financing of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the U.S. Department of State.