Agencies discuss about protection for LGBTI migrants

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IOM has taken part in a workshop in San Salvador, the Salvadorean capital, on the risks faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people when they migrate irregularly.

The workshop, which was co-facilitated by the Salvadoran Department of Migration (DGME), the Ombudsman for the Defence of Human Rights (PDDH), UNHCR and IOM, was attended by over 20 representatives of organizations that make up El Salvador’s LGBTI Coordinating Board and independent LGBTI activists, highlighted the vulnerability of LGBTI people and protection strategies.

The meeting, which followed a training of trainers attended by LGBTI Coordinating Board representatives held in Tapachula in Mexico, helped to promote reflection on migration processes, sexual and identity diversity, myths and realities of migration, the concept of vulnerability, human rights and LGBTI migration in Mesoamerica.

“The migration of LGBTI people in our region is extremely complex. This kind of event allows us to compile their migratory experiences and to identify the elements that characterize how their mobility is different from that of other migrants,” said IOM Mesoamerica program coordinator for El Salvador, Cecilia Ramirez.

The workshop was part of IOM’s Mesoamerica Program, which is funded by the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. It aims to strengthen the capacities of governments and communities in the region to protect and assist migrants in vulnerable situations.