IOM Participates in The Launch of the New Council for Care and Protection of Migrants
On June 21, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) participated in the public launch of the Care and Protection Council (CAP), an entity created as part of the National Migration Authority, in accordance with national regulations, and whose main mandate will be inter-agency coordination to develop plans, programmes and procedures for the care of migrants during the migratory cycle (departure, transit, arrival and return).
The presentation was addressed by Guillermo Castillo, Vice-President of Guatemala; Estuardo Rodríguez, General Director of the Guatemalan Institute for Migration (IGM), who chairs the CAP; Jorge Peraza Breedy, IOM Chief of Mission for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras; and Carlos Carrera, representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
"This is a very important day for Guatemala, since a new institution was created with the purpose of creating coordinated actions for the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrants, in accordance with national regulations and the many international agreements signed by the state at the international level, " mentioned Jorge Peraza from IOM.
"The International Organization for Migration takes this opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to strengthening Guatemalan institutions and defending the dignity of migrants, especially those in situations of risk or vulnerability such as unaccompanied migrant children, LGTBIQ+ groups, migrant women and migrants with some kind of disability", added the IOM representative in the northern Central American region.
The CAP will be composed of the Vice-Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Governance, Health, Education, Labour, Economy and Social Development; the Office of the Attorney-General; the Social Welfare Secretariat; the Office of the Human Rights Procurator; and the secretary of the National Council for Migrants. These same entities form an inter-institutional panel that will be responsible for actions aimed at preventing irregular migration.
Both the CAP and the inter-agency bureau will be responsible for the creation of prevention and information campaigns and educational training programmes focusing on migrant children and adolescents. Similarly, they will promote reports of human rights violations, expand healthcare programs for returned migrants and provide services to families of missing migrants.
Over the past decade, IOM, through its Western Hemisphere Program (WHP), has supported various activities of migration institutions in Guatemala, including the donation of equipment for the operation and functioning of the State, capacity building in the civil service, the development and publication of technical tools for care and evaluation, information and prevention campaigns, and the construction of immediate responses to emergency and crisis situations, among other priority areas of work for the country and for migrants.
The Western Hemisphere Program is funded by funded by the United States Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).