About the RMDH

The RMDU was established in September 2020 in IOM’s Regional Office for Central America, North America and the Caribbean, with the purpose of operationalizing and implementing IOM’s institutional Migration Data Strategy in the region.  

The RMDU provides support to IOM Country Offices, as well as to Member States, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders in the region in order to build activities related to migration data and information management.   

The three main objectives of the Unit, aligned with the Migration Data Strategy, are the following:  

• Objective 1 - Strengthen the global evidence based on migration.  

• Objective 2 - Develop the capacities of States and other relevant partners to enhance the national, regional and global migration evidence base.  

• Objective 3 - Ensure more evidence-based IOM- and United Nations system-wide programming, operations, policy advice and communications.  

The RMDU’s activities are aligned with the compromises made in various international frameworks, including the GCM, in particular its Objective 1: “Collect and utilize accurate and disaggregated data as a basis for evidence-based policies”, as well as the goals and indicators of the SDGs, including, for example, Target 10.7: “facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration and mobility of persons, including by way of the implementation of well-planned and managed migration policies) and Target 17.18: “… increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status…”  

Contact Information  

International Organization for Migration (IOM)  

Regional Office for Central America, North America and the Caribbean, Sabana Business Center, Boulevard Ernesto Rohrmoser, San José, Costa Rica    

Regional Migration Data Unit (RMDU)  

Tel.: +(506) 2212-5300    

Email: rosanjosermdu@iom.int    

Newsletters

Migration in the region Migration and human mobility are defining features in Central America, North America, and the Caribbean. It is well recognized that they take place in a context marked by historical, political, economic, and social ties and are driven by multiple and often overlapping factors such as poverty, inequality, slow economic growth, lack of decent jobs, labour market needs, political instability, the impact the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, environmental degradation, climate change, violence, insecurity, and family ties.