Argentina - With the participation of representatives from 16 Latin America and Caribbean countries, the 38th Inter-American Course on International Migration began this week in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

The event, organized by IOM, lasts two weeks and will end on March 22nd. It brings together government officials working in offices concerned directly with migration issues. They also meet experts and academics in the field of migration. To date the program has trained over 800 officials from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Ambassador Rubén Buira, Head of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Argentina, IOM Regional Director for South America Diego Beltrand and Course Director Jorge Gurrieri.

Ambassador Buira welcomed course participants and thanked IOM for its organization. He also emphasized the commitment of Argentina to protecting the human rights of migrants and stressed the importance given by the Chancellor Susana Malcorra and the new administration to the promotion of multilateralism in international relations as the most effective mechanism to address the challenges that arise.

Beltrand thanked Argentina for hosting the event. "In a very difficult global context for migrants, Latin America and the Caribbean have made important progress in promoting human mobility in the context of regional integration, emphasizing the human rights approach to migration and the modernization of migration laws and institutional frameworks," he said.

"Outbreaks of xenophobia, discrimination or racism that may arise around the new flows of intra and extra- regional migrants must be avoided," he added.

He also noted that the inclusion of migration as a crosscutting element of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the construction of indicators for monitoring their implementation is a great opportunity to ensure the observance of the human rights of migrants and make progress in migration governance.

The course features lectures related to the international protection of migrants, legal aspects of migration management, regional processes of integration and current policies, international migration programs, and migration, environment and climate change. Speakers include experts from IOM, UNHCR, OHCHR, the Institute of Human Rights Public Policy and the Scalabrini International Migration Network.

For further information, please contact Juliana Quintero at the IOM Regional Office in Buenos Aires, Tel. + (54) 11 5219 2033, Email: juquintero@iom.int