Objective:

The objective of this study is to identify the main means for regularization in the region, as well as their implementation state, good practices and challenges. The study aims to create recommendations for developing or strengthening the existing regularization programmes and processes in the region.

Objectives:

• Strengthen the capacities of civil officials in the RCM Member Countries with regards to the application of the principles of non-discrimination and equality, with special emphasis on the identification and assistance to people with special protection needs in the context of migration, for continuous improvement in the assistance to populations in the context of migration.
• Disseminate the legal framework that governs the use of force as a last and exceptional alternative for public officials in protection tasks for the population in the context of migration. Also, to raise awareness about the importance of protecting the access and full exercise of the rights of people in the context of migration, as part of the responsibilities of the front-line personnel of RCM Member Countries.
• Promote in the RCM Member Countries the strengthening of assisted, safe, and orderly return mechanisms, as well as training in the matter; provide information on good practices, especially in crisis situations, in which unrestricted respect for the human rights of people in migration contexts is sought.

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Objective:

The Programs objective is to promote in the member countries of the RCM, the training of the first line personnel in migrants` protection and assistance to identify vulnerability situations linked to violence, exploitation, and abuse, as well as the implementation of best practices for the identification of profiles and reference mechanisms regarding vulnerable migrant populations through the review of tools such as the IOM Determinants of Migrant Vulnerability Model4 and the Regional Guidelines for the preliminary identification of profiles and referral mechanisms for migrant populations in vulnerable situations.

General Objective

To promote the exchange of experiences at the regional level among the governments of the RCM Member Countries and diaspora organizations in terms of engagement strategies, with the aim of leveraging the role of the latter as agents for economic and social development.

Specific Objectives

1. To identify regional challenges and opportunities for governments and diaspora organizations relating to the adoption of effective linkage strategies.
2. To share best practices in the identification of/linkage with and integration of diasporas into development plans in their communities of origin.
3. To discuss actions that can be implemented at the regional level to facilitate the expedited, safe and cost-effective transfer of remittances.

Objectives:

• Exchange information and good practices on the assistance and governance of extra-regional migrant flows.
• Provide elements for the regional approach to the phenomenon, based on the principles of shared responsibility, respect for the rule of law, human rights and international cooperation.
• Generate regional inputs to strengthen the dialogue during the meeting with the South American Conference on Migration (SACM).

General Objective of the Exchange 

Offer input to build governmental capacities of the RCM Member Countries for designing, implementing, and monitoring mechanisms for safe, orderly, and regular labor migration, as a means to guarantee the fair hiring of migrant workers and the protection of their rights. 

Specific Objectives 

1. Socialize the current status of existing mechanisms in the Region for facilitating safe, orderly, and regular labor migration, as well as their effects on migratory dynamics, based on the principal findings and recommendations of the IOM study Labor Migration Mechanisms in Mesoamerica (2021). 

2. Identify areas for improving existing governmental capacities of the RCM Member Countries specifically related to Bilateral Labor Migration Agreements (BLMA).  To that end, the BLMA Toolkit jointly developed by the IOM and the ILO is available to be used at the national level to strengthen the areas identified during the Regional Exchange. 

3. Exchange information regarding good practices and lessons learned in the RCM Member Countries regarding the negotiation and implementation of labor migration mechanisms in countries with transit, destination, and return migration, as initiatives that promote the hiring of labor migrants and the protection of their rights, including groups in situations of vulnerability such as returnees and people with international protection to promote integration into the societies of destination and origin. 

General Objective

To promote dialogue and cooperation between countries of origin and destination in the design of labor migration policies that respond to the needs of the labor market and protect the rights of domestic and care workers.

Specific Objectives

1. To encourage the exchange of experiences between countries and/or regional mechanisms in recognizing skills and training of domestic workers, as well as in migration regularization and labor formalization of domestic workers.
2. To identify regional initiatives that can be promoted from the RCM to improve the protection of domestic and care workers, in the current context of crisis generated by the pandemic.
3. To promote, among the countries that have ratified ILO Convention No. 189, coordination channels for the effective implementation of the standards referring to migrant domestic workers.
4. To generate recommendations on the matter for Member Countries and serve as input for the Third Congress on Women.

The event seeks to present to the Member Countries, the Operational guide to apply the Best Interest of the Child Principle in contexts of human mobility.

General Objectives

To follow up on the findings from the II Congress on Women in Migration: Gender, Human Rights and Empowerment, and on the advances in the implementation of the Guidelines on Assistance and Protection of Women in the Context of Migration, in order to enrich and shape the III Regional Congress on Women in Migration Contexts, to be held in September 2021.

Specific Objectives

1. To present the results derived from the II Congress on Women in Migration Contexts as well as the follow-up actions, including research/actions being led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), together with IOM and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) under the Regional Spotlight Initiative.
2. To contextualize the results within the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects the entire world and which has had disproportionate consequences for women, female adolescents and girls, including those in migration contexts.
3. To establish dialogue among the RCM Member Countries on the advances and challenges in the implementation of the Guidelines on Assistance and Protection of Women in the Context of Migration and to identify the priority topics to be addressed during the III Regional Congress on Migrant Women in Migration Contexts.

General Objective

To propose a regional strategy for the attention to irregular and mass migration, based on three monitoring and evaluation meetings (April-July-October) to seek to identify the main trends and issues around these flows in the region, which require urgent and comprehensive attention under the principles of shared responsibility, respect for the human rights, national sovereignty, and international cooperation.

Specific objectives

- Generate a continuous space for dialogue and exchange that allows the consolidation of a fluid and effective communication among Member Countries, regarding the attention and protection of massive and irregular migratory flows.
- Identify topics of priority attention, such as actions and programs of some countries that can be replicated at the regional level and strategies for attention to massive flows.
- Propose strategies for the coordination and timely monitoring of mass and irregular migration events that impact the various countries of the region.
- Design a joint strategy for the attention and protection of migrants who make up the massive irregular flows in the region.

General Objective

Approach, identify, and executively systematize the experiences, actions, and good practices related to interinstitutional coordination that can be replicated or adopted by the RCM Member Countries to guarantee effective protection of all the children and adolescents in international mobility situation rights, and approach as well the challenges and opportunities for generating a mechanism for regional cooperation regarding the protection of children and adolescents in human mobility contexts.

General Objective of the Exchange

Offer input to build governmental capacities of the RCM Member Countries for designing, implementing, and monitoring mechanisms for safe, orderly, and regular labor migration, as a means to guarantee the fair hiring of migrant workers and the protection of their rights.

Specific Objectives

1. Socialize the current status of existing mechanisms in the Region for facilitating safe, orderly, and regular labor migration, as well as their effects on migratory dynamics, based on the principal findings and recommendations of the IOM study Labor Migration Mechanisms in Mesoamerica (2021).
2. Identify areas for improving existing governmental capacities of the RCM Member Countries specifically related to Bilateral Labor Migration Agreements (BLMA).  To that end, the BLMA Toolkit jointly developed by the IOM and the ILO is available to be used at the national level to strengthen the areas identified during the Regional Exchange.
3. Exchange information regarding good practices and lessons learned in the RCM Member Countries regarding the negotiation and implementation of labor migration mechanisms in countries with transit, destination, and return migration, as initiatives that promote the hiring of labor migrants and the protection of their rights, including groups in situations of vulnerability such as returnees and people with international protection to promote integration into the societies of destination and origin.

The XXV Regional Conference on Migration comprises the following meetings:

• December 1: Meetings of the Working Groups
• December 2: Meeting of the Regional Consultation Group on Migration (RCGM)
• December 3 - 4: XXV Vice-Ministerial Meeting

Objective: 

Promote technical dialogue among the RCM Member Countries, in order to strengthen knowledge of the massive intra-regional movements of people, from a comprehensive and coordinated perspective, which generates a rapid response and standardized criteria to respond to the phenomenon.

General objective

To strengthen the cognitive and affective capacities of the participants appointed by the member States, the members of the RROCM and observer organizations, in regards to sexual misconduct; as well as sensitize and strengthen the psychomotor skills to guide their reaction and response for victims of sexual harassment within the work field or during the migratory cycle.

Specific objectives

1. To generate synergies with key stakeholders through learning and teaching spaces on respectful, inclusive, and safe virtual environments.
2. To promote that migrant persons trapped amidst a situation of crisis access to protection and assistance without fear of being subject to exploitation and abuse.
3. To facilitate a technical emotional accompaniment space that enriches continuous education of humanitarian workers, through a learning program that generates a live experience by learning.

Objective:

To shared experiences, good practices, lessons learned, and challenges in managing regular flows, such as trade, ports of entry, visas, tourism, etc., as well as the return of nationals. Also, share how to maintain migration control efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, considering the protection of the population.

Objective:

To provide a space for dialogue to strengthen the coordination and strategic alignment of both mechanisms to generate articulated responses and implement effective regional mechanisms regarding mixed movements in Mexico and Central America.

Meeting of the Regional Consultation Group on Migration (RCGM)

Objective:

To strengthen the police and judicial bodies for the comprehensive fight against the smuggling of migrants through the exchange of best regional practices in preventing and combating the smuggling of migrants, particularly on investigation techniques and police intelligence and cross-border judicial cooperation.

Virtual Conference General Objective

Facilitate a dialogue that contributes to exchanging ideas, reflections and joint solutions between business organizations, employers and the governments of the RCM Member Countries to meet the challenges and enhance the benefits of labor migration, including in the post- pandemic economic recovery process.

Specific Objectives

1. Identify the expectations and priorities of employers' organizations and companies to potentiate the incorporation of migrant workers into the workforce, as well as regarding migration policies and how these policies respond to employer’s needs, both in terms of the workplace, the value chain, as market agents and as part of the care structures.
2. Exchange best practices and lessons learned from public-private alliances in RCM countries that promote labor migration and migrant social inclusion.
3. Analyze potential labor migration markets and labor trend changes against current challenges and future work in RCM Member States, focusing on innovative technologies and promoting the employment of migrants (including entrepreneurship).
4. Promote the use of guiding frameworks and tools developed by international cooperation (IOM, UNDP, ILO) for ethical and fair recruitment, entrepreneurship and development of sustainable livelihoods of migrants.

General Objective

Strengthen the capacities of RCM Member Country public stakeholders on matters of migration public policy design, implementation and evaluation in order to establish essential elements for orderly, safe and regular migration.

Specific Objectives

1. Identify recent experiences on evidence-based migration policy design and a whole-of-government approach.
2. Exchange best practices and lessons learned from the link between public, private and civil society stakeholders in initiatives that improve the design and implementation of migration public policies.
3. Disseminate and promote the use of migration data- and evidence-generating tools for the design, follow-up and evaluation of migration policies.
4. Analyze the challenges from the design and implementation of migration policies in the context of the current global crisis.

General Objective:

- To improve the implementation of the Best Interest Determination of migrant and refugee girls,
boys and adolescents in the region, in accordance with the existing commitments and standards
at the global, regional and national level, through the development of a regional strategy.

Specific Objectives:

- To identify issues, challenges and best practices concerning the Best Interest Determination of
migrant and refugee girls, boys and adolescents in the region, based on a survey that will be
distributed to the Member Countries prior to the workshop, and the discussion of its results
during the event.

- To build the capacity of participants at the workshop, enhancing the knowledge of regional and
global standards related to the Best Interest Determination of migrant and refugee girls, boys and
adolescents for its implementation.

- To facilitate dialogue during the workshop for the development of regional strategy to improve
the implementation of the Best Interest Determination of migrant and refugee girls, boys and
adolescents in the region.

Objective 

To identify the main regional challenges, obstacles and opportunities regarding migrant women, with a focus on gender, human rights and empowerment.

Methodology 

A participatory methodology will be used during the development of the Congress, encouraging the participants’ contributions. The agenda will be distributed in plenary sessions, panels of experts, colloquiums and working groups, on different thematic areas (gender, human rights and empowerment), as described below:

• Panels:  Consist of a dialogue with experts from Member Countries and organizations to address specific topics, highlighting different faces of women in migration.   
• Colloquiums: Is an activity to share the efforts made by the governments of the RCM Member Countries, observer organizations and civil society to implement the Guidelines on the Assistance and Protection of Women in Context of Migration.
• Working groups: A space of discussion to identify and focus on public policies and concrete actions, at the regional and national level, related to the implementation of the Guidelines.

Participants 

The participation of 3 officials from each of the Member Countries, with the following profile, is expected:

1. National mechanism for the advancement of women (national women institutes) 
2. Migration Directorates
3. Ministries of Foreign Affairs

In addition, members of the Regional Network for Civil Organizations on Migration (RNCOM) and RCM Observer Organizations are kindly invited to attend this event.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

Strengthening the response of the consular network, through improved procedures for coordination and information exchange between countries, to provide an effective response to the families of missing migrants at the local, national and regional level; taking on a regional approach that is not circumscribed by a single State.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• To identify the current functioning of consular procedures related to coordination, communication and existing information exchange mechanism used in the search for missing migrants.
• To identify best practices and areas of opportunity for improvement in the procedures implemented by consulates and ministries of foreign affairs related to the said mechanisms.
• To sensitize personnel of consulates and ministries of foreign affairs on the importance of their role and the communication with the families of missing migrant persons.
• To homologate best practices and define orientation criteria for consular personnel in the region to strengthen their role in the search for missing migrants.

General objectiv:e 
 
Promoting an effective labor migration governance in an equitable and ethical recruitment related dimension as well as the prevention of fraudulent practices regarding recruitment. 
 
Specific objectives: 
 
1. Exchanging diagnosis and contextual information about the obstacles and main challenges for an effective labor migration governance.  
 
2. Sharing and exchanging best practices as well as lessons learned in the RCM Member Countries regarding initiatives that promote an effective labor migration governance and the protection of labor rights of migrants and encourage better cooperation opportunities between countries. 
 
3. Spread and promote the practical use of ILO’s international definition of “recruitment fees and related costs” in the region, even with the identification and discussion of the current and existing definitions in the RCM Member Countries; as well as instruments for the promotion of practices for the ethical recruitment and employment of migrants, such as IOM’s IRIS and CREST. 
 
4. Promoting data generation related to recruitment and identifying RCM Member Countries that could be interested in applying ILO’s and World Bank’s  methodologies for the measurement of process made regarding the SDG Indicator 10.7.1 for hiring cost reduction

General Objective:

Promoting coordination spaces between the existing regional mechanisms for migration management and risk management, with the aim of contributing to capacity building on information exchange for the protection of migrants in the context of disasters of different nature.

Specific Objectives:

1. Analyzing the migratory dynamics of the region and the risk factors in the context of natural disasters and humanitarian response.
2. Promoting dialogue on the alignment of national strategies on information management of migrants in crisis according to the regional and global frameworks on the subject.
3. Identifying and exchanging successful experiences on information management of migrants in crisis by using the cases of participant countries.
4. Identifying the information gaps and needs for the inclusion of migrants in risk management.
5. Exploring new uses for methodologies, new technologies and non-traditional information sources in the management of migration crises caused by disasters (such as DTM).

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

The workshop aims to provide follow-up on the actions agreed upon in the Work Plan of the Liaison Officers Network to Combat Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons of the Regional Conference on Migration, prioritizing those that are necessary to meet the objectives defined in this document.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

This workshop is intended to provide a space for dialogue and exchange for the member countries of RCM, with the following specific objectives:

• To share the advances each country is making in the fight against migrant smuggling which contribute to the accomplishment of the counter-smuggling Work Plan.
• To identify priority actions in the Work Plan which should be implemented at the national and regional level in order to accomplish it.
• To promote the exchange of best practices on the issue between different countries, with the goal of identifying those actions which could be adapted to other contextual spaces and which could have effective results within the objectives of the counter-smuggling Work Plan.
• To promote collaboration and complementarity with other regional organizations that address the issue in some way (for example, the Regional Coalition against Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling; the Commission of Police Chiefs and Directors of Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Colombia; the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Extra-Regional Migrants (RCM), etc.

Policy and program specialists from government agencies, civil society and international organizations focused on migration health will exchange information on policies, programs, best practices and lessons learned.

• Event´s Description: Space for discussion, dialogue and creation of conclusions based on the experience of the participating delegations on the subject of women in the context of migration. There will be working tables on various topics.
• Topics to be developed: Women and labour, Data with a Gender Approach, Women and the Global Compact, Migrant Children and Adolescents, Women and the SDGs, Violence against Women.

XXIII Meeting of the Regional Conference on Migration to be held in Panama City, Panamá, on November 14-15, with previous technical meetings of the Liaison Officer Networks and the Regional Consultation Group on Migration (RCGM) on November 12-13.

The proposed lines of action will be presented to RCM Member Countries for their consideration and validation.

The workshop will have dynamics for leveling expectations as well as informative presentations on the problem of missing persons in the context of migration, and on the role of the consular networks. It is expected to level the information of the participants about the problem and the topics that will be discussed.

The general objective of the event is to provide a space for dialogue to discuss challenges and opportunities and exchange experiences (policies and programmes), with the aim of strengthening the design and implementation of policies on governance of regular, safe and planned migration in the Member Countries of the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM).

The workshop is oriented towards representatives (sub-directors or chiefs of departments) from migration authorities, ministries of labor and ministries of foreign affairs of the RCM Member Countries.

The objective of the workshop is to develop the lines of action for mainstreaming migration into the 2030 Agenda within the framework of the RCM and with the active participation of and in consultation with the Member States, which will subsequently be presented to the Vice Ministers of the RCM Member Countries. The development and facilitation of the workshop will be conducted in coordination with IOM and other international observer organisms, such as ILO, ECLAC, UNDP and UNFPA.

The nature of the Regional Consultation Group on Migration (RCGM) meeting includes the Liaison Officers Network to Combat Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons, and the Network for Consular Protection. During these meetings, recommendations are issued to Vice-Ministers for consideration at the annual meeting of the RCM. The RCGM calls to government authorities, representatives of civil society and observer organizations to the CRM.