The Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) and the Regional Network of Civil Organizations on Migration (RNCOM)
1996-2002

I. Historical Background/Overview

The Regional Conference on Migration, also known as the Puebla Process, is an intergovernmental forum on migration which includes representation from all Central American countries, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Canada and the United States. The group was established in 1996 to improve communication on migration issues among immigration and foreign policy officials in the region and to work toward cooperative agreements.

Each year’s activities consist of a major annual meeting at the vice-ministerial level, and interim technical meetings and seminars. The seminars have addressed national migration policies, the linkages between migration and development, cooperation for the return of extra-regional migrants, and the human rights of migrants. The RCM is chaired by a rotating Secretariat responsible for determining the theme that will be focused on during the year. For the year 2002, Guatemala is the Secretariat. The 2002 vice-ministerial meeting took place in Antigua, Guatemala from May 29-31.

While the official government sessions are closed to outsiders, non-governmental actors have been involved in the RCM process since it was initiated in March 1996. Conscious of the human rights and labor rights at risk in immigration enforcement activities, non-governmental organization leaders in the region realized that, with the formation of the intergovernmental RCM, their advocacy had to develop a regional dimension as well. In March 1996, staff of the Heartland Alliance and the Academia Mexicana de Derechos Humanos organized, parallel to the first meeting of the RCM, a gathering of thirty Mexican and U.S. non-governmental groups concerned with migration. U.S. NGO participants included representatives from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service (LIRS) and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). The binational coalition sent a statement urging recognition of the human rights of migrants and refugees, thus establishing the presence of non-governmental organizations from the very beginning of the Puebla process.

II. Current Initiatives

Since then, the regional civil society network has evolved, consolidating its internal structure and formalizing its relationship to the RCM. In most countries, RNCOM participation is coordinated by national-level roundtables or forums of civil society organizations concerned with migration issues. The RNCOM has become a proactive coalition with an agenda of its own – the adoption of a set of Regional Guidelines for the Treatment of Migrants in Situations of Arrest, Detention, Deportation, and Reception. These Guidelines are a non-binding document based on international and regional human rights law intended to establish standards for the treatment of migrants in the region. In early 2002, after an extended process of internal consultation and revision, RNCOM members presented a draft version of the Guidelines to their respective governments for comments and suggestions. In addition to implementing national and regional-level advocacy campaigns in favor of the adoption of the Guidelines, the RNCOM is also carrying out a set of coordinated research and monitoring efforts with respect to migration policies and practices in the region.

Unfortunately, however, the RNCOM’s implementation of an innovative, proactive cross-border human rights campaign coincided with a drastic shift in the regional migration policy environment. Following the events of September 11, 2001, governments throughout the region have tightened migration policies via legislative and administrative changes. Bilateral and regional discussions between North and Central American governments regarding migration were immediately reduced to conversations about national security and increased cooperation in migration law enforcement activities. The United States government emphasized that it was not interested in participating in multilateral forums of any kind, much less entering into multilateral agreements regarding human rights protections for migrants. In private meetings with RNCOM members and other advocates, Department of State and INS representatives affirmed that the U.S. government has no interest in committing itself to regional standards of human rights protection for migrants. As the major receiving country and dominant political force in the region, the U.S.’s sweeping post-9/11 rejection of multilateral international forums and commitments in general, and its refusal to consider the adoption of the Guidelines document in particular, has undermined the RCM itself and presented a tremendous setback to the RNCOM’s regional human rights campaign.

The May 2002 VII Vice-Ministerial meeting of the RCM focused heavily on national security issues and left RNCOM members uncertain about the future of the RCM as a regional space dedicated solely to migration issues. RNCOM member organizations and national forums are now looking to use the Guidelines document as an educational tool for migration officials and for migrant communities themselves, as a minimum reference point in the development of migration laws, and as regional standards to use in the implementation of monitoring and advocacy campaigns.

In spite of the challenges posed to migrants’ advocates by the post-September 11 policy environment, RNCOM members remain committed to building upon their connections to one another and to strengthening their collective advocacy efforts on a regional level.

III. Hemispheric Conference on International Migration: Human Rights and the Trafficking of Persons in the Americas

At the Third Summit of the Americas, which took place in April 2001 in Quebec, governments of the Western Hemisphere committed to strengthening cooperation between states in addressing regional migration issues as part of their Action Plan. The first step in following up on this mandate is a hemispheric conference on the Human Rights of Migrants and Human Trafficking in the Americas which will take place on November 20-22, 2002 in Santiago, Chile. This conference is being organized by the International Organization on Migration (IOM) and by the United Nations Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The governments of the hemisphere, as well as the Inter-American Development Bank, UNICEF, UNHCHR, the UN Population Fund and the International Labor Organization are all sponsors of this event.

The conference’s objectives include:

· Advancing the understanding of the multiple causes and consequences of international migration;
· Helping to bring together the multiple sub-regional processes currently underway with regard to migration, as well as the various international organizations addressing the issue;
· Identifying possible initiatives regarding international migration, with an eye towards bringing them to the next Summit of the Americas;
· Sharing information regarding a proposed OAS office on the rights of migrants and their families, and
· Deliberating on a possible work-plan to combat the trafficking of migrants in the Americas.

Last month, the IOM solicited RNCOM participation in the organization of civil society representation at the Santiago summit. RNCOM members have noted with some concern that the role of civil society in the event has not been clearly defined, and that there is a risk of civil organizations becoming inadvertently incorporated into the inter-governmental agenda without having the opportunity to voice their own independent perspectives. However, the executive committee of the RNCOM has decided that it is necessary to make an effort to ensure strong, well-coordinated civil society participation in the event. The gathering presents an opportunity for the network to link with migrant rights organizations and sub-regional processes regarding migration in South America. Additionally, the official summit itself marks the initiation of a high-profile, broadened, inter-governmental conversation on hemispheric migration in which civil society voices should be heard.