• A group of academics led by the president of El Colegio de México, Silvia Giorguli, and the president of the World Refugee and Migration Council, Lloyd Axworthy, presented the report of the North and Central American Task Force on Migration, and its main recommendations.
  • Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard welcomed the exchange with academic organizations, members of Congress, ambassadors from the Americas, United Nations organizations, and civil society to discuss migration in the 21st century.

Today, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard welcomed the North and Central American Task Force on Migration, which presented its report on regional migration. The report was prepared by El Colegio de México, the Migration Policy Institute, the Inter-American Dialogue, the World Refugee and Migration Council and the University of California at San Diego. 

Foreign Secretary Ebrard, together with Senate President Olga Sánchez Cordero; the president of El Colegio de México, Silvia Giorguli; the president of the World Refugee and Migration Council, Lloyd Axworthy; Ambassadors Graeme C. Clark of Canada; Rosa Delmy Canas Orellana from El Salvador; Ken Salazar from the United States and the Chief Officer for North America, Roberto Velasco, participated in the presentation of the report that includes public policy recommendations on migration.

The document was presented as follow-up to the 9th North American Leaders' Summit, held in November 2021, where the three countries agreed to work together for orderly, safe and regular migration in the region. The dialogue with academic organizations, think tanks, ambassadors to the Americas accredited in Mexico and representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR is a step forward in the joint work of the North American countries.

Foreign Secretary Ebrard stressed that the labor markets of Mexico and Latin America are compatible with those of the United States and Canada,  and that labor cooperation is necessary to accelerate North America's economic growth rates. "In North America we will need a large number of people to sustain our economies." He called for progress on regional labor mobility and for looking at the issue of migration from a 21st-century perspective.  

Senator Sánchez Cordero said the report "allows us to reflect on the conditions of co-responsibility in North America regarding the issue of migration [...] to build a region that is more humane, more empathetic with migrants." "We are all migrants," she said.

Dr. Silvia Giorguli said the report promotes "the development of a regional, comprehensive and strategic approach to Central American international migration," and that it "protects the security and human rights of migrants, with special attention to vulnerable populations such as women and children."

In his remarks, the United States ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said that "the United States, Canada and Mexico are very united in finding solutions [...] we are in a unique position because President Biden, President López Obrador and Prime Minister Trudeau agree on developing a common framework to address the causes of migration."

The Canadian ambassador to Mexico, Graeme Clark, said that migration "is an issue of shared responsibility among regional actors [...] we want safe, orderly and regular migration." "Canada is committed to working with all stakeholders to achieve this dream," he said.

The event concluded with a discussion of the specific recommendations of the task force with the diplomats from Canada and the United States, as well as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.  The UNHCR and IOM representatives in Mexico, Giovanni Lepri and Dana Graber, respectively, in addition to Foreign Ministry officials, also participated in the discussion. 

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