Heads of State and Ministers Meet in Panama to Address Irregular Migration in the Americas
April 20, 2022
Migration continues to be a key issue on the agenda of countries in the American continent, given the exponential increase experienced since 2021. During the meeting, the governments of the United States and Panama signed a Letter of Understanding on Migration Management and Protection of Migrants, whose ultimate goal is to take action in the face of the constant irregular flow of people through the region.
With the presence of senior officials from the United States government, foreign ministers, other ministers of states, and financial institutions, including CAF—development bank of Latin America—, the ministerial meeting was held to discuss the comprehensive, humanitarian, security and shared-responsibility approach for irregular migration with a view to laying the foundations for an agreement on joint and lasting actions in partnership with multilateral agencies and international financial institutions.
Ángel Cárdenas, CAF’s Manager of Urban Development and Creative Economies, said that the institution recognizes the challenge posed by migrant flows to cities in the region, which exacerbate the already difficult situation resulting from high urbanization (more than 80% of the people in the continent live in urban areas). Against this backdrop, CAF seeks to work hand in hand with its member countries to provide solutions to cities and communities within the framework of its urban development strategy. To this end, it emphasizes promoting infrastructure and services financing that help relieve pressure on these destination cities.
“At CAF, we are working on new urban products that can help national strategies on migration and improve the quality of life for their populations. This is thanks to support from the board of directors and its shareholders last March to capitalize the bank for an additional USD 7 billion, which will yield a greater capacity to address these problems in various cities around the continent.”
Tackling the causes of the migration crisis is a task involving various international stakeholders. All must contribute from their areas of expertise to strengthen inclusive measures to cover the basic needs of populations as a means of discouraging irregular migration, promoting shared responsibility to address migration comprehensively in the international context, while implementing joint strategies to combat transnational organized crime associated with migration and agree on joint and articulated efforts for effectively addressing migration in partnership with multilateral organizations and international financial institutions.
Panama has not escaped this reality, since due to its geographical position it is inevitably part of irregular migration routes coming from the south of the continent. So far in 2022, migrants have more than tripled, to more than 16,000, from 2021, when we saw a 10-year high.
At this meeting the delegations from the participating countries analyzed migration and security issues in two working round tables. At the first, foreign ministers addressed issues around stabilization of communities and post-COVID economic recovery. Security ministers participated in the second, and analyzed a more humanitarian enforcement of the law and the fight against trafficking in persons.
The meeting also included international organizations such as IOM, UNHCR, ICRC, IFRC, UNICEF, OHCHR and SG-UN, and regional financial institutions such as IDB, CAF, IMF and CABEI.