Initiatives to address the challenges and opportunities of migration

Originally settled by people from other continents and colonized by Europeans in the XVI Century, the Americas have traditionally been a region of immigrants. Nevertheless, for several decades this phenomenon has switched directions in Latin America and the Caribbean. During the last fifty years, large numbers of people have left their homes in these regions in search of better work opportunities and life conditions for themselves and their families. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 30 million Latin American and Caribbean nationals currently reside outside their country of birth, which means that one of every seven migrants in the world is born in Latin America or the Caribbean.

According to IOM figures, there are currently close to 214 million international migrants in the world, 10 percent more than in 2005 and 20 percent more than a decade ago. Global and regional migration is a process of great significance given its economic and social implications, and its impact on the development of national and international public policies. In the last decade, all countries of the American continent have become countries of origin, transit and destination of migrants. This has led the Organization of American States (OAS) to pay special attention to the challenges and opportunities facing the countries of the Americas as a result of such migratory trends.

The OAS has emphasized the cross-cutting nature of the migration phenomenon in all its work, to thus be able to contribute to the elaboration of public policies that promote controlled, safe and ordered migratory processes. As such, in 2005, the OAS General Assembly adopted the “Inter-American Program for the Promotion and Protection of the Human Rights of Migrants, including Migratory Workers and their Families,” focused on the protection of human rights of migrants through the promotion of public policies, legislation, exchange of best practices and cooperation between countries.

Later, in 2007, the OAS Permanent Council established the Special Committee on Migration Issues (CEAM), which is charged with analyzing issues and migration flows from a holistic perspective. Likewise, in 2008, the OAS Executive Secretariat for Integral Development created the Migration and Development Program (MiDE) to provide technical assistance to CEAM and coordinate initiatives of the Organization related to migration.

In terms of international migration, the OAS seeks to provide assistance to its member countries in three broad areas: policy-making, human rights and development. More specifically, it targets the following issues:

In migration policy: the modernization of information systems, control and security; human trafficking; and the reintegration of migrants to their communities of origin.

In human rights: the respect for the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their migratory status; international protection of refugees; and the protection for victims of human trafficking.

In migration and development: the understanding of the regional migratory phenomenon with an integral, objective and long-term focus on the origins, manifestations and effects of migration in the region; the exchange of relevant statistics on migrant workers linked to development; the positive contributions of migrants to their countries of origin and destination; and the reintegration of migrants to their communities of origin and labor markets.

At a recent meeting of the Special Committee on Migration Issues, international experts on migration were invited to share their views and ideas with representatives of OAS member countries on the challenges and opportunities that arise from the return of migrants to their countries of origin. On that opportunity, OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, reminded member countries of the importance of dialogue in addressing an international issue that affects, almost without exception, all countries in the Americas and in which cooperation plays a key role. “The problems caused by migration can only be solved through dialogue, never through confrontation,” he said, adding that “this dialogue is essential in developing an effectively fruitful cooperation to solve any negative situations that current migratory trends may be generating.”

At the same meeting, Ambassador Duly Brutus, Committee Chairman and Haiti’s Permanent representative to the OAS, evoked the spirit of unity with which the OAS has sought to address this subject and encouraged member countries to harness this virtue in the Committee’s work ahead. “The reason for our presence here at this Special Committee is to share our experiences on subjects as important as that of migration, make shared decisions on best practices and to agree on how to make progress on common initiatives, all of this with a spirit of solidarity and unity, always with respect to human rights,” he said.

Francisco Pilotti, Director of the OAS Department of Social Development and Employment, explains that the work of the OAS is focused on motivating a multilateral dialogue in the region on the subject of migration. “It also seeks to promote controlled, orderly and safe migration, supporting the political, economic, cultural and scientific capacities of migrants to stimulate the basic processes of human and economic development in their societies of origin and destination.” For more information on MiDE and its programs visit: www.sedi.oas.org

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