MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Latinamerican conference on regional migratory policy

Ecuadorean Migration minister Lorena Escudero

Latinamerican countries will try to unify a regional migratory policy during the 9th South American Conference on Migration, to be held here on Sept. 21-22, announced Ecuadorian Migration Minister Lorena Escudero.

The conference, a regional mechanism of dialogue and agreement on migration founded in 1999, will bring together delegates of the “highest level” from the 12 South American countries.

Escudero said the conference is aimed at advancing the unification of a regional migratory policy “to consolidate possibilities of free movements in the region.”

Escudero said, at the end of the conference, the countries will sign a common declaration, which will be taken to the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development in Athens, Greece, later this year.

He said other topics to be mentioned in the conference include a plan of human development for migrations, the rights and dignity of migrants, and their contributions to the origin and destination countries.

But challenges such as the current global financial crisis are ahead for the countries to come up with a common regional agenda on issues concerning migration, Escudero added.

Hit hard by the worst financial crisis in the country's history, a large number of Ecuadorians migrated to Europe, mainly Spain and Italy, and the US in 1999, and migration management became a state policy in 2007.

Representatives from social institutions, observers from international and regional organizations like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean will also attend the conference.