Yesterday, on 16 November, the virtual course was inaugurated on the management of applications for asylum and the integration of refugees aimed at civil servants from the countries that are members of the Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework (Spanish acronym: MIRPS), which will last for three days. “Spain wishes to make a real impact on improving the situation of forced displacements and those communities that take them in”, stated the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, Cristina Gallach.
The inauguration also involved the participation of the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Economic Promotion and Integration of El Salvador, Patricia Comandari, on behalf of the Pro Tempore Presidency of MIRPS.
The aim of the course is to see and share experiences in such fields as applicable legislation, the use of technologies in processes to determine the status of refugee and of registration, the integration of refugees and asylum-seekers in host countries, with particular attention placed on the role played by the private sector. The treatment of a particularly vulnerable group - unaccompanied minors – will also be addressed, and the fight against people trafficking, which mainly affects women and girls.
During her speech, the State secretary conveyed a message of condolence and support from the Spanish people for the ravages caused by Hurricane Eta. “We express our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and our hopes for a speedy recovery to those injured”, highlighted Cristina Gallach. One of the pillars of the Spanish Presidency of the Support Platform is precisely to boost technical cooperation on training in the management of asylum and integration, according to the needs expressed by the countries in the region.
The course, coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, is given with the collaboration of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Office of the Attorney-General, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, the UNHCR and the IOM, with the support of the INTERCOONECTA Programme of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Spanish acronym: AECID).
Between June 2020 and June 2021, Spain chairs the MIRPS Support Platform. The MIRPS is an initiative of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Panama to apply the Global Compact on Refugees in this region. The MIRPS Support Platform includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Italy, Sweden, Uruguay, Switzerland, the United States, the EU, as well as the UNHCR and the OAS, which exercises the Technical Secretariat.
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