The IDC will hold its 2nd Regional Workshop in the Americas on 11-12 September 2013 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Following on from the first workshop held over a year ago in Mexico City, and from subsequent work IDC has carried out in the region, one of the main priorities identified has been the need to strengthen regional alliances and establish regional strategies to limit the spread of immigration detention in the migration corridor from Central America, through Mexico to the United States, and to promote the use of alternatives for vulnerable groups, particularly child migrants and asylum seekers.
The workshop, entitled “Alternatives to Detention and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups”, will be held only in Spanish and will include participants from all seven Central American countries (Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) as well as from the Dominican Republic. The workshop is co-hosted by IDC and Sin Fronteras (IDC regional representative for Mexico and Central America), and is co-sponsored by the UNHCR Regional Office for Central America based in Panama. External facilitators include Sin Fronteras and the Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Matías de Córdova (Mexico), Asylum Access Ecuador, the Global Detention Project, Project Counselling Service Latin (Office for Central America and Mexico) and UNHCR.
The workshop aims to identify specific priorities in the region, strengthen the capacity of organisations by sharing advocacy, campaign, and monitoring tools, and facilitate the development of national and regional work plans on immigration detention and alternatives. After the workshop, the IDC Americas team will spend a day sharing experiences with a wide range of Guatemalan organisations. One of the interesting elements of this workshop will be a focus on the way organisations can become involved in limiting the use of immigration detention and promoting alternatives as part of their current work, whether they represent migrant groups of origin, transit, destination or return.
For more details, please contact Vanessa Martinez: [email protected]
IDC Americas Workshop
Themed ‘Alternatives to Detention and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups’, this workshop aims to identify specific priorities in the region and strengthen the capacity of organisations by sharing advocacy, campaign, and monitoring tools.
Where: Guatemala
When: 11-12 September 2013
Contact: [email protected]
Tweet coverage: @idcamericas