Latin America and the Caribbean

2022 was a watershed moment for migration governance, as the war in Ukraine and its repercussions have triggered levels of displacement unseen since World War II, nearing the total numbers of refugees to the 2015-2016 figures. Also other destination regions witnessed similar developments throughout the year.

This article looks back on the past 12 months of MIEUX+ Actions. The new reality brought on by the partial recovery from COVID-19 has shifted certain priorities and needs on the ground for MIEUX+ partners.

MIEUX+ has recently completed its fourth Action in Mexico supporting the National Migration Institute (INM) with the effective management and coordination of assistance to migrants during health-related crisis.

For the second time since the beginning of the current phase, MIEUX+ is launching its annual report in video format. The annual report highlights the main projects and milestones accomplished between April 2021 and May 2022.

Building on 10 years of cooperation with Costa Rica, the 5^th project with the General Directorate for Migration and Immigration (DGME) is aimed at developing the country’s new National Integration Plan (NIP) for 2023 – 2027. The project has sought to evaluate the current plan 2018-2022, as well as foster spaces of dialogue to establish a roadmap for the next one. In the framework of the onsite mission in San Jose, Costa Rica, the MIEUX+ team and experts brought together a variety of actors to plan integration in the next 5 years across 6 strategic areas, through a holistic and participative approach and including a strong gender-sensitive component.

As part of the capacity development strategy launched in 2020 with the latest phase of MIEUX+, the Training of Trainers (ToT) course is the first standardised material developed by the team and a set of experts in this area. The ongoing project with the Brazilian Public Defenders’ Office represented a great opportunity to pilot the ToT course and prepare for the broad roll-out of this product for other partners around the world.

The first regional project was launched in June 2022 in the Gran Chaco region, the second biggest biodiversity and forest area after the Amazon rainforest. The Action brings together 10 partners from various sectors aiming at finding solutions that would contribute to an effective and coordinated management of environmental migration.

The 5th MIEUX project with Costa Rica kicked off on Monday 25 April with around 50 participants from the General Directorate for Migration and Immigration (DGME), the EU Delegation in Costa Rica, MIEUX+ Experts from Germany and Spain and representatives from various national ministries, international organisations, NGOs and academia. Drawing from previous work in the country developed jointly between MIEUX and the DGME, this Action will focus on the development of the Costa Rica National Integration Plan (NIP) 2023 – 2027, building from lessons learnt and a new migratory reality.

Together with the Brazilian Public Defenders’ Office, MIEUX+ launched its first fully fledged online course on international protection and asylum: legal assistance to asylum-seekers and refugees in Brazil.

The annual report summarises the achievements of the first year since MIEUX became MIEUX+ in April 2020. The report is in video format and available to view on this website or on YouTube.

This article is part three of a three-part series published between August and October 2021. Taking a cue from the experiences shared in the context of the new Costa Rica IV Action, we analyse how public administrations in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean have adapted their work to respond to new needs originated by crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article is part two of a three-part series to be published between August and September 2021. Taking a cue from the experiences shared in the context of the new Costa Rica IV Action, we analyse how public administrations in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean have adapted their work to respond to new needs originated by crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article is part one of a three-part series to be published during August and September 2021 in which, taking a cue from the experiences shared in the context of the new Costa Rica IV Action,  we analyse how public administrations in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean have adapted their work to respond to new needs originated by crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

MIEUX+ concluded its third Action in Dominican Republic, which focused on knowledge exchange between government peers tasked with migration and border management issues.

MIEUX+, the Brazilian Public Defenders’s Office (DPU) and the MERCOSUR Public Defenders’ Network (BLODEPM) organised the regional webinar “Asylum Application Process and Legal Assistance Offered by Public Defenders – Challenges, Effects of the Pandemic and Good Practices” on 17 June 2021 in honour of the upcoming World Refugee Day.

Today, the MIEUX+ team held the webinar 'Migration Trends and MIEUX+ in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2021’, which included the launch of the ICMPD’s 'Regional Migration Outlook Latin America and the Caribbean' and a live discussion about the new Costa Rica IV Action.

In December 2020, MIEUX+ launched a new Action in Brazil in the area of international protection and asylum policy with the Federal Public Defenders’ Office. It is not the first time that the institutions cooperates with MIEUX. In 2019, the Brazil II Action focused on children in migration whilst the newly launched Action builds on the aims to contribute to better protection and juridical support to a broader spectrum of migrants and asylum seekers in Brazil.

With the launch of its new phase, MIEUX+ is looking for migration experts to support its capacity building activities all over the world, starting with a new series of Actions focusing on crisis management and migration and health.

The European Union is supporting the Ecuadorian Chairmanship of the 2019 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) through the MIgration EU eXpertise (MIEUX) Initiative, implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). The two-day regional workshop “Supporting arrival cities through policy coherence and multi-stakeholder partnerships”, co-organised by ICMPD, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru on 16 and 17 October in Lima is the last in a series of four regional workshops preceding the Quito Summit in November and will gather representatives from academia, national and local-level governments, International organisations and civil society to exchange experiences. 

In this edition of Expertise, expert Blanca Sánchez Goyenechea, Head of Special Procedures Unit, Sub-Directorate General for International Protection at the Spanish Ministry of Interior, recently deployed to take part in thePeru IV Action, discusses the need for knowledge exchange among government officials and inter-regional cooperation on asylum.

The European Union is supporting the Ecuadorian Chairmanship of the 2019 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) through the MIgration EU eXpertise (MIEUX) Initiative, implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). The two-day regional workshop “Providing regular pathways from crisis to safety”, co-organised by ICMPD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 19 and 20 September in Quito, Ecuador is the third in a series of four regional workshops preceding the Quito Summit in November and will gather representatives from academia, national and local-level governments, international organisations and civil society to exchange experiences on management of mixed flows. 

The European Union is supporting the Ecuadorian Chairmanship of the 2019 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) through the MIgration EU eXpertise (MIEUX) Initiative, implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), in hosting the two-day regional workshop “Harnessing Migration for Rural Development”, on 14 and 15 August in Kingston, Jamaica. The second of a series of four regional workshops ahead of the Quito Summit in November will gather representatives from academia, national and local-level governments, International organisations and civil society to exchange experiences. 

Northern Brazil is facing a mounting challenge with the increasing arrival of a large number of migrant children, unaccompanied or not, to the Northern Brazilian States of Amazonas and Roraima. Responding to a request from the Public Defender's Office, MIEUX launched a new Action to assess the ongoing situation and to transmit the European experiences in areas of interview protocols for international protection applicants, especially children.

The European Union is supporting the Ecuadorian Chairmanship of the Global Forum on Migration and Development through the MIgration EU eXpertise (MIEUX) Initiative, implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), in hosting the two-day regional workshop “Facilitating social and economic inclusion”, on 24 and 25 July in San José, Costa Rica. The first of a series of four regional round-tables ahead of the Quito Summit in November will gather representatives from academia, national and local-level government and civil society to exchange experiences in how to deliver services and apply innovative and rights-based approaches for the social and economic inclusion of migrants. 

The 2018 Annual Report gives an overview of the main achievements during the past year when MIEUX celebrated its 10^th-year anniversary. You can find out more about each of the main sections below or download the full report in English or French.

For this edition of MIEUX Reflections, Alfred Woeger, MIEUX's new Project Manager, shares with us a few thoughts about his experiences in the LAC region and an overview of what is to come during the year.

In this article, Oleg Chirita, Programme Coordinator of Global Initiatives, celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the joint EU-ICMPD Migration EU eXpertise Initiative (MIEUX) by creating a year-by-year timeline of the main milestones since 2009.

In July 2018, MIEUX convened the Regional Knowledge Sharing Round-table for Latin America and the Caribbean in Mexico City. The event was co-hosted by the National Institute of Migration and gathered representatives from Argentina, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru and MIEUX Experts from Argentina and Spain over two and a half days.

Today MIEUX publishes two new Regional Factsheets on Eastern, Central and Southern Africa and on Latin America and the Caribbean. In total, 37 Actions across these two regions have supported governments on important areas of migration such as data collection, migration and development, irregular migration, THB and smuggling of migrants (SOM). 

Mr. Pelayo Castro Zuzuarregui is the resident Ambassador and Head of EU Delegation to Costa Rica. In this interview, first published in MIEUX's Annual Report 2017, he discusses his involvement in the MIEUX Action assisting the Government of Costa Rica in drafting the second phase of the National Integration Plan.

The 2017 Annual report describes the year’s activities; provides a wealth of data about MIEUX Actions; and features interviews from some of the main players involved in the programme.

In this edition of Expertise, Gloria Rendón Toro shares with us some reflections about her recent mission, the complexity and multidimensional nature of migration and how signing up as an expert for MIEUX has helped her to renew her approach to day-to-day work.

Throughout 2018, MIEUX will celebrate its 10 years delivering technical assistance on migration management with a series of regional events and specialised publications.

As 2017 draws to an end, it is time to reflect on what we have accomplished. What have our Actions achieved during these past 12 months in order to advance migration cooperation between EU and partner countries? Here is a selection of five main achievements and nine Actions that illustrate our progress.

Today, the Costa Rican Directorate for Integration and Human Development (DIDH) under the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners (DGME), the European Union Delegation in Costa Rica and the Migration EU Expertise (MIEUX) Initiative joined a selection of participants from national and local governmental institutions and civil society in San José for the launch of the new National Integration Plan (NIP) 2018-2022.

As every month, in November the MIEUX team will be on the ground or deploy a team of experts to support the needs of governments across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern and Southern Neighbourhoods in managing migration and mobility.

Now in its 11^th year, the EU Anti-Trafficking Day serves as an occasion to highlight ongoing work against this phenomenon, considered to be a grave violation of human rights and a serious form of organised crime by international standards. Currently, about 20% of MIEUX’s ongoing projects are focused on fighting against trafficking in human beings through several strands of cooperation.

This week MIEUX is launching a new Action to support the General Directorate of Migration of Dominican Republic in conceiving, drafting and launching a national awareness-raising campaign about regular migration, targeting an estimated 250 000 individuals in need of renewal of documentation.

During a recent study visit to Madrid and Barcelona, MIEUX Associate Project Officer, Mr. Markel Redondo Ibarrondo, felt inspired by the discussions he held with several civil society organisations and government authorities at local and national level on the topic of integration of immigrants.

Between 18 and 22 September 2017, MIEUX organised a study visit for a delegation of four Costa Rican officials from the Ministries of Labour and Social Security, Public Education and the Directorate for Integration and Human Development (DIDH) under the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners (DGME) to Madrid and Barcelona (Spain). This activity is part of the six-step action designed to support the Costa Rican Directorate General for Migration and Foreigners (DGME) in developing its second National Integration Plan (2018-2022).