Border Officials Trained to Work for Migrant Children in Panama

Darien, Panama- With the objective of training officials of governmental institutions and civil society organizations on the Panamanian border, the workshop about “Assistance for Migrant Children and Adolescents needing International Protection” was held in Metetí, Darién province.

This workshop was directed towards key staff responsible for assisting migrant children and adolescents . The training was put on by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in conjunction with the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents, and Family (SENNIAF), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), RET International, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Through technical training and case analysis, 55 participants learned the principles, approaches, legal tools, and procedures for assisting migrant children and adolescents and identifying needs for international protection.

The workshop also served to foster spaces for exchanging information and experiences between officials, enabling improvement in interinstitutional coordination, and in the ability to provide comprehensive responses to challenges relating to migration, through timely action which safeguards human dignity.

Yazmín Cárdenas, Director General of SENNIAF, thanked key actors, the technical teams, and the experts on migration issues for their participation in this important workshop, and emphasized that noticing children and adolescents within migration flows is vitally important to guarantee the human rights of migrant children and adolescents and those needing International Protection. She emphasized that for SENNIAF this workshop represented facing the challenges relating to migration with timely actions that safeguard the human dignity and wellbeing of migrant children and adolescents.

This workshop was developed within the framework of the Mesoamerica Program, implemented by IOM with the funding of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) of the Department of State of the United States of America.

IOM reaffirms its commitment to support the State in achieving orderly, regular, and safe migration which guarantees and promotes respect for the Human Rights of migrants, as well as in strengthening systems for assisting unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents, their families, and their communities of origin.