The "Hemispheric Conference on International Migration: Human Rights and Trafficking in Persons in the Americas" will take place in Santiago, Chile from 20 to 22 November, at the headquarters of ECLAC.

The event is convened by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in pursuance of United Nations General Assembly resolution 56/203 and ECLAC resolutions 590(XXIX) and 592 (XXIX). The Conference is benefiting from the collaboration of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and from the sponsorship of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Latin American Economic System (SELA).

Governments of the member States of ECLAC, representatives of international organizations and academic figures, together with a number of civil society organizations working in the field will be participating in the Conference. The civil society organizations will also be holding a parallel meeting.

It is hoped that the Conference will serve to strengthen cooperation among governments with regard to international migration and to identifying mechanisms that will help to protect and promote the human rights of migrants and to combat and prevent trafficking in persons, in pursuance of the international mandates and agreements that exist in this regard.

Link to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)