INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM)

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Context

Former White House advisor Amy Pope is set to become the first woman to head the United Nations’ migration agency. She will become the organisation’s first woman chief on October 1.

About

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.

History

The IOM was established in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) to help resettle people displaced by World War II.
It was first known as the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe (PICMME).
It became a United Nations agency in 2016.

Mandate

The IOM is the principal UN agency working in the field of migration.
The IOM promotes humane and orderly migration by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.
The IOM works in the four broad areas of migration management: migration and development, facilitating migration, regulating migration, and addressing forced migration.

Activities

The IOM works
- to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration,
- to promote international cooperation on migration issues,
- to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and
- to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, be they refugees, displaced persons or other uprooted people.
The IOM supported the creation of the Global Compact for Migration, the first-ever intergovernmental agreement on international migration which was adopted in Marrakech, Morocco, in December 2018.
In addition, the IOM has often organized elections for refugees out of their home country, as was the case in the 2004 Afghan elections and the 2005 Iraqi elections.