The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) will host the second Regional Forum of Women Leaders of the Venezuelan Diaspora from August 1 to 3 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The event, which will bring together 33 Venezuelan women leaders from 11 Latin American and

Caribbean countries, is an initiative of the Office of the Director General's Special Envoy for the Regional Response to the Venezuelan Situation and the Department of Social Inclusion of the Secretariat for Access to Rights and Equity of the OAS General Secretariat, under the framework of the OAS School of Government.

The Regional Forum seeks to support the improvement of advocacy actions and capacities of women leaders of the Venezuelan diaspora organizations in the host countries by strengthening their leadership skills to foster an agenda of inclusion and rights of migrants and refugees, and for social participation at the national and regional levels within a gender and diversity approach.

Topics such as the socioeconomic integration of Venezuelan migrant and refugee women, leadership and communication tools for social change and participation, the design and implementation of advocacy actions by Venezuelan diaspora organizations will be part of the focus areas presented by experts from the IOM, OAS, ILO, UN Women, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Quito Process, among others.

The Regional Forum will take place thanks to the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Press contact:

IOM, Gema Cortes (marcortes@iom.int)

OAS, Nicole Levoyer (levoyer@oas.org)

ILO, Pablo Sorondo (sorondo@ilo.org)

WHAT: Regional Forum of Women Leaders of the Venezuelan Diaspora

WHEN: August 1-3

WHERE: Buenos Aires, Argentina