PANAMA CITY, June 29, 2023. In order to strengthen regional and bilateral cooperation actions of member countries, exchange information on good practices and lessons learned, as well as promote the protection of human and labor rights of migrant workers, the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM), with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), held this June 28 and 29 in Panama City a "Workshop based on the exchange of experiences on domestic and agricultural work of migrant workers and circular migration".

The increase in intra-regional migration for work in agriculture and domestic work, informality and the difficulty of access to regular migration mechanisms for these sectors in North America, Central America and the Caribbean pose considerable challenges for labor migration Governance and the protection of

workers. In this context, it is key to design and implement national regulatory frameworks and binational or regional agreements that promote the legal identity of labor migrants, respect for human and labor rights, access to fundamental services (for example, the right to health), as well as the welfare of all people and actors involved.

For these reasons, the workshop was developed as a way to promote binational agreements to regulate intra-regional circular migration, through the exchange of best practices in this area. "Initiatives such as SITLAM, a system derived from binational agreements among Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama that guarantees that migrant workers receive a legal identity card when crossing the border to work, and the amnesty that the government of Belize implemented a few months ago, are examples of how the status of migrant workers can be regularized as an alternative to irregular migration, guaranteeing respect for their rights and access to social life in the host community," said Andrea Dabizzi, coordinator of IOM's Western Hemisphere Program.

"When there are improper practices in the recruitment and exploitation of human resources that are integrated into the labor activity of a country, it can lead to vulnerability and human trafficking. The success of this type of spaces, where the level of awareness of the countries is raised, reduces the margin of operation of the traffickers, who operate outside the institutional action of the states and use deception", commented Dennis Sanchez, representative of the Inter-institutional Commission against Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons in Honduras.

The Workshop is a continuation of RCM activities related to the prevention of irregular migration and addressing the associated risks, and the creation of regular alternatives for labor migration. It is also linked to the fulfillment of the objectives of the Global Compact for Orderly, Safe and Regular Migration, especially objectives 1, 4, 6, 11 and 22, which refer to the institutional capacities of countries, and is in line with the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, which emphasizes the commitment of States to protect the safety and dignity of all migrants, regardless of their migratory status, and to respect their human and fundamental rights.

As follow-up actions, it is proposed to continue with the promotion of binational agreements and support to governments at the country level; as well as the analysis of strategic aspects of these agreements to identify future actions and thus improve them at the regional level.

This activity was supported by the IOM Western Hemisphere Program (WHP), with funding from the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) of the U.S. Department of State. For more

information, please contact Natalia Alvarez, Coordinator of the Labor Migration Unit of the Regional Migration Program, at nalvarez@iom.int