MEXICO – CENTRAL AMERICA COOPERATION TO PREVENT THE SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS

In order to launch a coordinated program to combat migrant smuggling in the region, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in collaboration with the Mexican government and the Central American and Caribbean Council of Public Prosecutors held a meeting in Mexico City on April 10-11 for public officials involved with migration and with investigating and prosecuting crimes in the region.

The meeting, “Promoting Cooperation between Mexico and Central America to Prevent and Combat the Smuggling of Migrants," was held to provide participants with the theoretical and technical tools for designing robust, sustainable and reliable programs to protect migrants who have been the victims of smugglers and to prevent this crime.

With funding from the European Union, the UNODC helped promote the implementation of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

The technical assistance provided by UNODC consisted mainly of facilitating meetings between Mexican and Central American officials to encourage professionalism and international cooperation with shared responsibility.

This initiative, developed in Mexico, will be extended to six Central American countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, in 2013-2016.

The Mexican agencies involved were the Interior Ministry, the National Migration Institute, the Federal Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Foreign Ministry. The Central American governments were represented by the Council of Central American and Caribbean Public Prosecutors.

For more information, please contact: mariana.alegret @ unodc.org