Honduras advances towards the creation of a comprehensive migration policy

 
Honduras
29 July, 2020

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Honduran Secretariat of Governance, Justice and Decentralization (SGJD) initiated a round of virtual meetings as part of the process of building a comprehensive migration policy.


"The formulation began last year and, since then, IOM has facilitated and supported the initiative of the Government of Honduras to design a comprehensive migration policy and thus contribute to managing migration in a sustainable and humane manner," explained Salvador Gutiérrez, IOM's Deputy Head of Mission for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, during the opening of the virtual session that took place today. Participants included Ana García, First Lady of the Nation, Ricardo Montes, Under-Secretary of State in the Offices of Governance, Justice and Decentralization, and more than 60 officials from government institutions.

 

In her opening remarks, the First Lady said that these are "important actions that will allow us to have a clear vision of the approach to migration of our people, and there is no possible better way to do it than with you, who have been part of the whole process, and the institutions of government that are responsible for conducting the country's migration policy".  


As part of the actions, a methodological route was established to guide and focus the discussions in a participatory manner among government entities. Sergio Bueno, director of the Institute for Migration and Peace Studies, with whom IOM has a collaboration agreement to provide technical support to the SGJD, and his team shared the results of the migration assessment of Honduras. This is an approach to the country's socioeconomic analysis, migratory context, and the legal and budgetary analysis. The inputs collected will be used by Honduras in the process of formulating this new migration policy.

 

This is the first in a series of participatory workshops that will serve to define a plan of action and follow-up. In addition, the work carried out will make it possible to specify lines of action for a comprehensive migration policy. At a later stage, it is planned to broaden the discussion with civil society organizations, academia and other relevant sectors in the construction of the policy.


"Thanks to the formulation of this new comprehensive migration policy, Honduras will come ever closer to achieving orderly, safe and regular migration," Gutiérrez added.


The technical accompaniment to the SGJD is provided within the framework of IOM's Regional Program on Migration Mesoamerica - The Caribbean , with funding from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.