Costa Rica

The Training Program on Migration Policy and Governance with a Focus on Local and Municipal Levels consisted of the virtual module Migration Trends in Latin America and three synchronous sessions. Participants enjoyed a panel with representatives of the local governments of Costa Rica and El Salvador, and the Federation of Local Governments of Latin America (FLACMA), who addressed the main needs and priorities identified for local migration governance. Subsequently, a space for group work made it possible to collectively build some recommendations from the perspectives of communities of destination, origin, return and transit.

More than 100 people from 24 countries met on August 4 in the "Seminar on International Migration and Local Development: Challenges and Benefits of Good Migration Governance at the Local Level". The activity presented the methodology and experiences around the Migration Governance Indicators (MGI), a comprehensive IOM tool that was created to support countries in the implementation of target 10.7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

MCM staff are trained by the General Directorate for Migration and Aliens (DGME) on issues related to migration regularization. In addition, staff receive training for differentiated care, in accordance with the different profiles and needs of migrants, with the aim of providing a more comprehensive service.

Representatives of the agencies of the United Nations Migration Network for Costa Rica participated virtually in the forum "Advances Costa Rica for a Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration". Costa Rica presented the progress in the implementation of the initiatives at the national level 2018 - 2022. As Costa Rica is a country of origin, transit and destination of migrants, the DGME recognized the work carried out jointly with IOM, especially the initiatives developed through the Regional Program on Migration.

A high-level delegation, representing the State Department and the United States Embassy in Costa Rica, made a visit to the community of La Carpio, in the city of San José. During the visit,the progress made in this community in the integration of the migrant population into their host communities and social cohesion was shown.

The objective of this initiative is to contribute to the strengthening of community capacities, promoting links between local actors in disaster risk management processes at the territorial level. The meeting provided opportunities for reflection and training and exchanges of good practices, experiences and lessons learned to address the issue at the community level.

As part of the efforts to protect the rights of migrants, the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) launched a regional training programme focused on the protection and assistance of vulnerable migrants in conjunction with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who in 2019 developed the Handbook on Protection and Assistance for Migrants Vulnerable to Violence, Exploitation and Abuse.

The second part of the technical exchange of practices on fair recruitment and labor protection of migrant workers was held the 24 May 2021, as part of the Regional Conference on Migration. The session was led by the International Labour Organization, jointly moderated with the International Organization of Migration, and gathered the participation of 61 participants from 11 RCM Member Countries’ representatives, private sector and civil society organizations, as well as observer agencies.  

On May 27, Costa Rica’s Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MTSS) with support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), held the first national event to showcase concrete progress and actions aimed at the protection of labour rights with special focus on the migrant population.