Guatemala

In recent months there has been a substantial increase in migration flows from Central America to North America, making it increasingly necessary to expand the coverage of secure information channels. Chief among these are the migration information hubs, which in the first quarter of 2021 alone, reported to IOM to have assisted more than 12,000 people in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.   

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched an interactive map that will allow migrants to identify diaspora organizations and the support services they can provide. Since the map will be a live resource, IOM has provided a link where organizations wishing to be indexed can fill out a form and include their basic information. 

A study focused on foreign workers currently in southern Mexico revealed the main vulnerabilities and opportunities provided for Mexico's economic growth by thousands of migrants of Guatemalan origin who, for decades, have been working seasonally on Mexico's southern border.

IOM considers that data protection is fundamental to support its operations, as it is key to the respect of human dignity and the right to privacy of individuals. In the framework of January 28, International Data Protection Day, IOM, from the Western Hemisphere Program, shares with the Information Hubs on Migration of the region four key questions and answers on the subject. 

The International Organization for Migration launched the online course "Information Hubs on Migration". The course is free, open to the public and 100% virtual through IOM's E-Campus platform. The main function of the hubs, located in the facilities of municipalities and other local instances, is to provide current, potential or returned migrants with access to reliable information on regular migration channels and to direct them to existing services in the community, to facilitate their protection, integration or reintegration, as the case may be.

Closing an atypical year, the Regional Coalition against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (CORETT) held a virtual meeting during the week of November 23 to analyze the work done in 2020 and to propose the objectives of the Coalition for 2021. The response to the crisis caused by COVID-19 was a key element of the sessions.

In a series of virtual sessions facilitated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), between November 16 and 17, the member countries of the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) met to promote technical dialogue to strengthen knowledge and procedures, so that the preparation and response to massive migration flows are given within the framework of efficient migration management without neglecting respect for the human rights of migrants.

A total of 41 people from a wide range of backgrounds and professions participated in two virtual sessions on the crime of human trafficking on October 29. Among them were migration officials, legal professionals, teachers and doctoral students.  The activity was part of the virtual tutored course "Migration Policy and Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean", which IOM is implementing with the Inter-American Development Bank's Migration Training Program. 

On October 26th, 40 representatives of the Member Countries of the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) concluded a cycle of virtual sessions for exchange and proposals on the best interest of migrant, refugee and in need of protection children and adolescents. The process, initially planned as an in-person workshop, was virtualized in response to the distancing measures imposed by COVID-19, so that a total of four online sessions were held since March.