Comayagua, Honduras, June 6, 2024 - In response to the high vulnerability of Central American countries to climate events and misinformation on migration, representatives of the Commission of Migration Authorities (OCAM) of the member countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and CEPREDENAC), met in two events in Comayagua, Honduras, in order to strengthen capacities and generate agreements on these specific issues with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Marcos Palacios, General Secretary of the National Migration Institute of Honduras -the country that holds the pro tempore presidency of OCAM-, spoke of the need to "work on the root causes of climate change and disinformation, since our countries and our peoples deserve coordinated actions to improve well-being and accurate information as the basis for democracies.”

Firstly, the consequences of climate change - with increasingly recurrent hydrological, climatological or biological disasters - generate displacement of people from their places of origin. The IOM estimates that by 2050, Mexico and Central America could have 3.9 million internal climate migrants, which would represent 1.19% of the region's population. For this reason, representatives of OCAM member countries analyzed a compendium of existing regulatory frameworks on environmental and/or climate-related displacement and validated their relevance and effectiveness at the national and regional levels. 

"This space allows us to move forward with objectives that we had pre-established and generate common actions to address migration. It is an important opportunity because, through OCAM and SICA, we are making decisions that will be applied with a common standard in the region," said Manuel Lemus, Legal Director of the Central American Integration System (SICA).

On the other hand, misinformation on migration processes and the wide reach of social networks as a source of false information on migration greatly exposes people to networks of smuggling, trafficking in persons and obstructs their access to rights. To address this reality, communicators representing OCAM member countries and other SICA entities participated in the First Edition of a Regional School on Communication and Migration.  

This space was also facilitated by EFE Verifica (from the EFE news agency), which allowed participants to learn mechanisms and tools for information verification ("fact checking") as a tool to strengthen their institutional communication strategies on migration issues. 

"These activities are a key part of the strengthening of cooperation between OCAM-SICA and IOM and are aligned with a comprehensive and intersectoral approach to address migration. They are also a starting point that marks a promising horizon for joint work," said Andrea Dabizzi, Coordinator of IOM's Western Hemisphere Program.

The workshops were aligned with international instruments related to migration, climate change and human rights such as the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (goals 2, 3, 5, 13, 16 and 17), and targets 10.7 and 13.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Both activities were implemented within the framework of the Western Hemisphere Program, with funding from the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) of the U.S. Department of State.

For more information:

On climate change and migration policies: contact Efrain Guerrero, regional migration governance officer (eguerrero@iom.int). 

On communication and migration: contact Tatiana Chacón, regional communication for development officer (tchacon@iom.int). 

On press and images of the event: Ismael Cruceta, IOM Honduras communication officer (icruceta@iom.int).