Guest Contributor

Migrants face different challenges when they settle in their destination countries, including their entry into the labor force. Studies such as CEPAL (link in Spanish) indicate that irregular migrants are more likely to experience poor working conditions and be employed in low-skilled jobs. Including those who obtain a regular status, in some countries, migrants receive salaries below the average of nationals.

Each year, thousands of people leave their homes in Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions in an effort to secure futures that have become practically unattainable in their countries of origin. Economic dispossession, lack of access to education and employment, violence, and other structural and personal factors have motivated people from all over the world, but mostly from Central American countries, to seek a new life in the United States or other countries within the region.

One of the most striking demographic figures in the Caribbean region is the one-to-one ratio of nationals living in their home countries and the members of the diaspora living abroad: 

“There is nearly one person living abroad in the diaspora to every person still resident within the Caribbean, making the diaspora an untapped potential resource for economic development” – World Bank, 2013.

This figure can be perceived as an opportunity to unlock a potential growth in the economy and development of this region if managed adequately.  

Thousands of migrants, asylum seekers and Central American refugees go north in search of better opportunities. Most of these people leave from Northern Central American countries (PNCA - Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador).

**This article was originally written by Dina Ionesco, Head of the Migration, Environment and Climate Change (MECC) Division at IOM, for the UN: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/06/lets-talk-about-climate-migrants-not-climate-refugees/ 

Disasters due to natural hazards exact a heavy toll on the well-being and safety of persons, communities and countries. These disasters tend to be exacerbated by climate change, and are increasing in frequency and intensity, significantly impeding progress towards sustainable development, especially for most exposed countries.

Campaigns are a tool to disseminate information or messages. However, institutional communication campaigns are usually unidirectional and without long-term impacts. Communication for Development (C4D) is proposed as an innovative methodology to achieve sustainable changes that affect the development of communities and states through evidence-based decisions and participatory processes.

Human trafficking seems like a crime away from our reality. But, the truth is, it is so close that we often cannot see it.

On July 30, we commemorate the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, a crime which has caught more than 40 million people worldwide in exploitation situations.

Despite being a recognized crime around the world, there are many myths that surround its reality. To better understand what human trafficking is, we will share some of the most common claims about this crime, and review one by one whether they are true or not.

Migrant smuggling, trafficking in persons and even white slave trafficking: we might hear these expressions being used as synonyms, when in reality they have very different meanings. Let's start by eliminating one, the term "white slave trafficking".