17/11/2023
Spanish cooperation promotes dialogue on human mobility based on human rights between Latin American countries
The Colombian capital, Bogota, has hosted the Regional Meeting “Guaranteeing Human Mobility based on Human Rights” which has brought together authorities from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru, together with representatives of the European Union and specialists in the field, to analyse and establish common objectives to address the challenges posed in a coordinated manner. In addition, representatives of the FIIAPP, the entity that facilitates cooperation between institutions around the world, will be present.
From the perspective of international cooperation, the meeting will make it possible to analyse how progress has been made in recent months in the adoption of policies and instruments for the management and protection of rights at borders, which will allow the partner countries to take stock of the milestones achieved in 2023 in the framework of the European EUROFRONT programme and, especially, to draw up the programme’s lines of work for the coming year 2024.
Representatives of the partner countries of the EU-funded EUROFRONT Programme, co-led by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Public Administration and Policy (FIIAPP), and the European Union have been meeting since yesterday in Bogotá, Colombia, to study the challenges and opportunities of migration in Latin America, with a view to protecting human rights and guaranteeing the security of these movements.
Among the activities carried out in the EUROFRONT Programme, we can highlight the signing of the One Stop Control agreement to speed up the movement of people between Ecuador and Colombia; the delivery of computer equipment to border posts; the launch of the Athens Network (an initiative for collaboration between countries for the detection of false documents at the border); the creation of the Regional Platform against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants, made up of 10 Latin American countries, and the awareness campaign “Alerta Trata” against trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants.
One of the challenges for the institutions involved in migration management is to ensure that the processes of human mobility take place in a framework of security and respect for the rights of migrants, while at the same time complying with migration rules and regulations at each border.
In addition to this, the presence of criminal organisations that try to take advantage of some situations of vulnerability associated with migration requires States to collaborate to ensure the protection of human dignity without distinction based on gender, age, origin, ethnicity or migratory status. Moreover, these situations must be addressed from a perspective of shared responsibility, collaboration and protection of human security.
In this sense, the EUROFRONT Programme, implemented by the FIIAPP of Spain, the IILA of Italy and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), aims with the Regional Meeting in Bogota to create a space for dialogue where the main actors involved in the public management of these challenges can exchange their experiences.
6 panels, more than 20 speakers
Over two days, those attending the event, mostly representatives of migration authorities, law enforcement agencies and foreign ministries belonging to the programme’s partner countries, will have the opportunity to listen to and participate in six panels featuring around twenty speakers.