Alexander Betts
132 μ¢¤³£ ¬μμ¬
the conference came from the £, working closely with the Contadora
Group (Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela) and major donors
such as the United States and the ¤. As part o the process, the
£ ̈ and the £ Development Program established a joint secre-
tariat, based in San José, Costa Rica.
The aim o ¤μ¬ was to address forced displacement through a
development-based approach. Conference attendees called for the
¤μ¬ secretariat to implement 36 initial projects that would re-
quire $375 million over a three-year period. Most o the projects
aimed to ensure that, rather than having to migrate long distances in
search o security and opportunity, migrants could receive protection
and achieve prosperity closer to home. For example, through ¤μ¬,
the Mexican government undertook the development o large parts
o the Yucatán Peninsula, including Campeche and Quintana Roo,
states that at the time hosted tens o thousands o Guatemalan refu-
gees. The project created agricultural jobs and other opportunities
for Guatemalan refugees to build sustainable lives in Mexico, while
simultaneously supporting the development o relatively impover-
ished areas o the peninsula. A number o other ¤μ¬ projects
encouraged self-reliance on the part o refugees, empowering them
to access opportunities both at home and in neighboring countries.
For example, 62,000 Nicaraguans, 45,000 Guatemalans, and 27,000
Salvadorans returned home because integrated development projects
cropped up in their local communities, schemes aimed at improving
employment, infrastructure, and social services.
In the end, ¤μ¬ is estimated to have channeled more than $422
million in additional resources to the region, most o it from the United
States and the ¤. But ¤μ¬ was not just a one-o pledging confer-
ence: it was an ambitious political undertaking that lasted from 1987 to- It led to sustainable solutions even for those who were not o-
cially refugees, using the term “externally displaced persons” to capture
the needs o people in migration situations that the traditional termi-
nology failed to describe. Ultimately, ¤μ¬ did more than just ad-
dress a migration crisis: it laid the foundations for two decades o
relative peace in Central America.
ANCHORS, NOT WALLS
What the Americas need today is a revival o the spirit o international
cooperation that drove ¤μ¬. The recently forged Global Compact