Doc. 9814

22 May 2003

Activities of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 1998-2002

Report

Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography

Rapporteur: Mr John Wilkinson, United Kingdom, European Democratic Group

Summary

Established in 1951 to contribute to the resettlement of European displaced persons, migrants and refugees, over the years the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has modified its structure and objectives to adapt to the new challenges of migration and assist states in providing a humane response to migration movements.

IOM is currently a leading worldwide agency, counting 98 member states, of which 33 are Council of Europe member states. It tries to address issues such as the orderly management of migration, the fight against trafficking and the assistance to its victims and the establishment of clear and transparent channels for legal migration. These common concerns and goals make of the IOM and the Council of Europe natural partners for co-operation.

The present report is largely based on an exchange of views that the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography held with representatives of the IOM on 27 February 2003 in Geneva (see appendix).

I.        Draft recommendation

1.       In the current context of globalisation, growing economic disparity and political unrest, governments face new challenges in trying to devise viable and effective migration policies. The Parliamentary Assembly therefore praises the importance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as an agency assisting states in the implementation of an orderly system of migration management, respectful of the human rights and dignity of migrants.

2.       The Assembly recalls its previous Recommendations on the activities of the IOM, and in particular Recommendation 1253 (1994) on the activities of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 1992 and 1993 and Recommendation 1370 (1998) on the activities of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) (1994-1997). Likewise, the Assembly notes the recent exchange of views between IOM representatives and its Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography (Geneva, 27 February 2003).

3.       Since Recommendation 1370 (1998), the international context has profoundly changed, with a virulent increase of phenomena such as irregular migration, smuggling and trafficking and with terrorism posing an indirect threat to the concept of a multicultural society and to the full integration of immigrants in their host country. The International Organization for Migration has reacted to these changes with a considerable restructuring, in order to respond better to the new needs of states and migrants.

4.       The Assembly congratulates the International Organization for Migration on its flexibility and its efforts to adapt to the changing needs of migration policies. Likewise, the Assembly congratulates the International Organization for Migration on the increase in its membership, now counting 98 states, of which 33 are Council of Europe member states.

5.       Consistent with its previous Recommendations, and considering their common interest in migration policies and the rights of migrants, the Assembly believes that the Council of Europe and the International Organization for Migration should continue to work in close co-operation in this field.

6.       The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers strengthen co-operation between the Council of Europe and the International Organization for Migration, in particular in the areas of:

i.       the elaboration of a viable strategy of migration management;

ii.       the development and delivery of information addressed to potential migrants on the channels for legal migration;

iii.       the production and distribution of information addressed to potential victims of trafficking;

iv.       the fight against trafficking and the provision of assistance and protection to its victims;

v.       the full integration of legal immigrants in their host countries;

vi.       the study of the connection between migration and development and the effort to address the root causes of migration movements;

vii.       the improvement of the legal framework applying to migrants relating to entry stipulations and the full assurance of their rights.

7.       Furthermore, the Assembly reiterates its recommendations to the Committee of Ministers to:

i.       instruct the Council of Europe Development Bank to study the possibility of co-funding joint projects with the International Organization for Migration;

ii.       invite all Council of Europe member states to become members of the International Organization for Migration;

iii.       urge all Council of Europe member states to provide political and financial support to the International Organization for Migration in the fulfilment of its tasks.

II.       Explanatory memorandum by Mr Wilkinson

I.       Introduction

1.       The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a leading worldwide agency working with governments and migrants to provide humane responses to migration issues.

2.       Established in 1951 as the “Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration” (ICEM), an organisation with the aim of resettling European displaced persons, migrants and refugees, the IOM has adapted flexibly over the years to tackle the new challenges posed by the complex phenomenon of migration.

3.       IOM is estimated to have assisted about 11 million people to find a durable or temporary solution on where to go, how to reach it safely and how to integrate in the host country. In particular, in situations of humanitarian emergency IOM provides assistance to people fleeing abroad to avoid the consequences of armed conflicts or human rights violations in their countries. Furthermore, IOM assists these persons to return to their countries of origin once the emergency situation is over. This is achieved both directly, with humanitarian and logistic assistance to beneficiaries, and indirectly, by providing the states concerned with the necessary resources and instruments. In addition, IOM deals with a wide range of aspects of international migration, contributing to a more orderly and efficient management of migration movements by member states.

4.       As the range of activities carried out by the IOM has been widening and diversifying in recent years, the importance of this organisation has increased for the Council of Europe. Both organisations work for the management of migration and the respect of human rights and dignity of all migrants, and are therefore natural partners for a close co-operation in this field.

5.       The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has always acknowledged the role played by IOM in the area of migration. The activities carried out by IOM have been the subject of several Assembly recommendations, the latest having been adopted in 1998, and IOM representatives are invited to several meetings and conferences on themes concerning both organizations. The IOM has also observer status with the Council of Europe. The present report is largely based on an exchange of views that the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography held with representatives of the IOM on 27 February 2003 in Geneva.

6.       IOM operates in the belief that a “humane, orderly and regulated migration benefits migrants and society”. In compliance with this main aim, the operational work of the organisation is devoted to:

7.       In order to cope with irregular migration, IOM is active in:

8.       IOM is highly concerned about the dignity and humane treatment of migrants. In respect of these issues it is involved in a number of different activities, including:

2.       Membership, structure and resources of IOM

a.       Membership

9.       The membership has significantly increased since 1997, when only 22 Council of Europe member states were members of IOM. As of April 2003 eleven additional Council of Europe member states have joined the organisation, which counts among its members the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Other nine Council of Europe member states have the status of observers with IOM (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Malta, Moldova, Russian Federation, San Marino, Spain, the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and Turkey). The total membership is 98 countries.

b.       Structure

10.       The IOM consists of three main organs: the Council, the Executive Committee and the Administration.

11.       The Council of IOM is composed of representatives of all member state. This body determines the policies of the organization by reviewing the reports and directing the activities of the Director General and the Executive Committee, as well as approving the budget and the programme of the organization. The Council of Europe’s Representative is admitted to attend the meetings of the Council as observer, and in this capacity can be allowed to take the floor, but does not have voting rights.

12.       The Executive Committee is composed of the representatives of sixteen member states, with a two-year mandate. This body is in charge of the examination and the supervision of annual reports of the Director General and the revision of the budget. It is also called to analyse any matter referred to it by the Council and to make any urgent decisions that should be necessary between sessions of the Council. It can present advice and proposals to the Council or to the Director General.

13.       The leading figure in the administrative body is the Director General. He is elected by the Council, from within the Council, for 5 years and is responsible to it. His main task is to put into practice the policies determined by the Council and the Executive Committee, by applying their regulations and recommendations. He plays a great role in influencing such policies, since he can “formulate proposals for appropriate action by the Council”. The Director General fulfils his duties in complete autonomy from the member states. The present Director General, Mr Brunson McKinley from the United States of America, assumed his office on 1 October 1998. He is assisted by the Deputy Director General, Mrs Ndioro Ndiaye from Senegal. They head a total of 3.413 staff members, whose number has significantly increased over the last years (in 1996, the personnel of IOM accounted for 1361 people).

14.       Since 1997, IOM has undertaken a programme of reforms which aims at making the organization more efficient by reducing the administrative expenditure and increasing the relevance of field missions in terms of budget resources and staff. Some managerial functions have been transferred from the Geneva headquarters to a new administrative centre, located in Manila, where the lower cost structures and the availability of skilled professionals facilitate the organisation to operate within its budget constraints. At the same time, more funds have been allocated in order to expand the operational capability of field offices: 19 new Missions with Regional Functions (MRFs) have been established by decision of the Council in November 2000, in order to coordinate the 158 Country Missions and the Special-purpose Missions, which are especially created to deal with emergency situations.

c.       Resources

15.       The IOM budget is divided into two separate lines: one is meant to provide for administrative expenditure, another for operational charges. From 1996 to 2001 the nominal growth of the administrative part of the budget has been kept to zero (about Є 23,107,000), while the operational budget has steadily been increased. The operational part of the budget estimated for 2003 amounts to Є 500,000,000 approximately.

16.       Funding the IOM involves two different systems: the administrative part of the budget is based on cash contributions from member states according to a scale of assessment adopted each year by the Executive Committee. The operational part of the budget is covered by contributions in cash, in kind or in services from member states, other states, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organisations and individual donors, depending on the programmes to which they relate.

3.       Activities from 1998 to 2002

a.       General overview

17.       Since 1994 IOM has been using the so-called “projectization” scheme: every activity corresponds to a project which allows the collection of funds from donors for a specific activity. As a result, the Operational Budget is devoted to provide services and to support operations on the ground. The operational sectors can be divided in seven main areas: (i) humanitarian movements, (ii) returns, (iii) counter-trafficking, (iv) labour migration, (v) technical co-operation, (vi) migration health, and (vii) compensation programmes.

18.       Between 1997 and 2002, IOM has helped the international community cope with emergencies like Hurricane Mitch, Kosovo, East Timor, the Gujarat earthquake and Afghanistan. With regard to this last conflict, IOM was called by the UN to run the camps for displaced persons in Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif. IOM has assisted hundreds of thousands of people to leave their countries of origin, preventing them from being involved in conflict situations and from facing violations of human rights.

19.       Other activities ranged from post-war returns (to Kosovo and East Timor) to resettlement into third host countries of people in need of international protection who could not remain in the country where they had been temporarily received due to lack of resources (mainly to the United States –58,400 persons in 2001 –, Canada, Australia and the Nordic countries), pre-departure assistance (in various African countries), family reunification and integration of immigrants in host countries, and facilitation of voluntary returns.

20.       IOM has implemented a number of new counter-trafficking activities, by providing people with adequate pre-departure information (programmes in Russia, central and eastern Europe, the Balkans), co-operating with governments to improve the management of regular migration, the registration of the immigrant population and the assistance to victims of trafficking.

21.       Under labour migration and technical co-operation programmes, IOM provides assistance to qualified professionals returning to developing countries and select personnel to respond to labour demand of industrialised countries. Besides, IOM has concluded several agreements with some member states to improve the management of seasonal labour migration flows. The IOM also provides governments with technical assistance and qualified advice on issues relating to migration management.

b.       Activities in Europe

22.       In 1999 about 80.000 people were airlifted from "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and other countries in the region to over 30 host countries under the Humanitarian Evacuation Programme. By the second half of the year, IOM organized voluntary returns for some 150.000 Kosovars, from neighbouring or other countries, via the airports of Skopje and Pristina.

23.       In 2000, IOM and UNHCR established the Rapid Response Transportation Fund (RRTF), in order to respond to emergency situations requiring the rapid organisation of transport for people at risk. Among Council of Europe member states, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have contributed voluntarily to finance the Fund. In 2001, the RRTF was used to evacuate people from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, following a sudden outbreak of violence in the northern part of the country.

24.       Resettlement represents one of the most important activities of IOM and accounts for a significant part of its operational budget. Refugees are transferred to third countries from countries where they are not in fear of persecution, but which cannot afford to host them. A large part of these departure countries are south European states, such as Turkey and Greece. Among Council of Europe member states, only the Nordic countries agree to act as resettlement countries and in 2001 IOM assisted 10.931 people to resettle in this region.

25.       IOM provides assistance to refugees to be resettled, preparing documents and filling admission applications for resettlement countries. This activity, which is of growing importance for IOM, requires the payment of a fee by the beneficiary.

26.       Voluntary return operations are addressed to all categories of migrants, including failed asylum seekers and refugees wanting to return to their countries of origin once the causes of their departure have ceased or they are not allowed to stay in the host states any more. These operations are carried out by land, sea or air, through travel agreements with several carriers.

27.       Following the events of 11 September, some of the carriers upon which IOM relied went bankrupt, including Sabena, TWA and Swissair. IOM is currently looking for replacements. Moreover, national policies on security have become increasingly strict, with the result that IOM is facing new security standards, such as limitation of seats per flight, visual identity authentication and fingerprinting.

28.       Under the assisted voluntary return programmes, support is provided both in destination and transit countries:

i.       Destination countries: A number of General Voluntary Return Programmes have been established on the basis of agreements between governments and IOM, in order to supply individual return services for a limited number of beneficiaries. Under certain conditions, a person in need of advise and logistic support for a safe return to the country of origin (rejected asylum seekers, trafficked migrants, stranded students, labour migrants, qualified nationals, ex-refugees) can obtain it, submitting an application to the IOM field mission in the country where he lives. In 2001 Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom took advantage of general return agreements with IOM. Besides, some emergency interventions have been undertaken so as to respond to urgent situations. This happened in the aftermath of the Kosovo crisis (the Kosovo Humanitarian Return Programme, established in the second half of 1999, which, until 2001, assisted 181.561 people to return), or following the dissolution of Yugoslavia (the project “Facilitation of Cross-Borders Returns between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia” assisted 2.767 persons in 2001).

ii.       Transit countries: IOM operates a number of voluntary return assistance schemes in transit countries, where people are stranded while trying to reach western Europe. In 2001 139 people were assisted to return from the Baltic states to their countries of origin, 236 from Hungary, 46 from Slovakia, 617 from the Czech Republic, some 300 from the Balkans. Among the groups of people assisted by IOM more than 4000 were African students, who had been granted government-to-government scholarships in the USSR. After the collapse of the USSR, they were forced to live in poor conditions, since they could no longer benefit from previous aid. IOM provided them with financial support to complete their studies and return to their countries of origin, where their high-level qualifications could be used to develop the local economy.

29.       IOM fosters partnerships between countries of departure and countries of destination, through the organization of meetings and round-tables in order to facilitate the co-management of return. In some countries, assisted returns have been conducted in the framework of capacity building programmes. For instance, the IOM’s Return of Qualified Nationals Programme assisted prosecutors and judges living abroad to repatriate to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to enable the functioning of a new judicial system after the end of the war.

30.       IOM counter-trafficking actions are carried out in countries of origin to inform potential victims of the dangers of trafficking and irregular migration. Information and education activities target potential victims, the general public, schools, urban and rural community groups and families. IOM also tries to raise the awareness of potential clients of women who have been trafficked and forced to work in the sex industry. The methodology, tailored to each group, includes the utilization of a variety of communication activities using several media outlets. Mass media ensures that the information reaches large audiences quickly while direct grassroots contacts provide the informal setting required for more in-depth discussion. By empowering immigrants through acquisition of knowledge, information campaigns contribute in the better protection of potential migrants instead of dealing with its consequences.

31.       IOM operates also to raise awareness of the problem of counter-trafficking in governmental institutions, media and other civil society entities through information campaigns, training for border personnel and police officers, information exchange and training seminars.

32.       These three fields of intervention have been often integrated in an all-comprehensive country strategy, in the framework of regional programmes. Tailored projects have been endorsed involving both assistance to victims, mass information and training seminars, in order to address the particular needs of the target country. For instance, in the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” three projects stand side by side in combating trafficking respectively through return and reintegration of women victims; prevention, awareness raising and direct assistance to victims of trafficking and direct support to Transit Centres for victims and stranded migrants. These projects are coordinated with several major projects operating at a regional level in the Balkan area.

33.       In the framework of the European Union’s STOP Programme for 2000, IOM set up a pilot project on the “Fight against trafficking in human beings/Research on unaccompanied minors for sexual exploitation in Europe”. The focus of the project is on four European countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. This research has been useful to identify patterns of international criminal activities as well as possible means to react against them.

34.       Eastern European countries have also been a focus of major attention: projects aimed at integrating anti-trafficking education in secondary schools have been implemented in Bulgaria and Hungary, while a database of Russian NGOs involved in anti-trafficking activities has been created in Moscow. In Moldova and Ukraine an information campaign has been carried out under a large-scale programme on trafficking in women. A similar project has been carried out in the Baltic countries. In spite of its regional dimension, this campaign was adapted to specific audiences and their cultural and social specificity, and used tools and media that were expected to have a higher impact in each country.

35.       At regional level, IOM has established a Programme of Assistance for the Protection, Return and Reintegration of Trafficked Women and Children covering Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro. Begun in June 2001, this programme supports the victims, procuring visas and transit documents, contacting carriers for their return and providing a post-arrival package for a durable and sustainable reintegration, including – where needed - medical assistance, psychological treatment and assistance in job seeking. This programme follows a country-by-country approach within a regional framework, in order to fit each particular situation.

36.       At national level, several programmes of protection for victims of trafficking have been implemented in Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Emergency Support for Trafficked Girls and Women”), the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (160 women and minors reintegrated in 2001), Moldova (363 people have returned under the Programme ”Combating Trafficking in Women”), Romania (261 victims assisted in 2001), and Ukraine (254 victims assisted). Some actions have been taken also in destination countries, where trafficked migrants were stranded: in Italy 52 beneficiaries have been granted support for voluntary return to their countries of origin.

37.       Almost all IOM projects against trafficking include training sessions, seminars and interregional know-how exchanges for officials. As regards the Balkans, the project “Developing Best Practices in Agencies Working on the Trafficking of Women and Girls for the Purposes of Sexual Exploitation” aims to benefit statutory or voluntary agencies working on counter-trafficking, providing models of good practice on a regional basis.

38.       IOM encourages legal labour migration and many projects have been activated to this end, particularly in Africa, Oceania and Asia, with a major allocation of resources. Technical assistance is carried out by the Technical Cooperation on Migration (TCM) service and includes seminars, workshops as well as capacity building programmes.

39.       IOM cooperates with Italy and Germany in order to organise legal labour migration into these countries. IOM selects potential immigrants with certain skills required by these countries, provides tutoring and counselling services, training, travel arrangements and facilitates the integration of migrants once in host countries. In Germany IOM assists the government in the implementation of the Green Card programme, through which German employers, who need foreign qualified workers, can apply to IOM for recruitment. Following the application, IOM activates a procedure to contact potential employees in countries of origin, assesses that they possess the required skills, prepare the necessary documentation and arrange quick and safe transport to Germany. In Italy, IOM runs programmes to manage labour migration, from Albania and from North Africa as well as a programme for Orientation, Vocational Training and Counselling for Migrants and Refugees from the Balkan Region, in cooperation with the governments of concerned states and local IOM field missions.

40.       Migration Management Capacity Building Programmes have been implemented in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine. These forms of co-operation fill the gap existing between the legislation and the capacity to implement its provisions in these countries. IOM has developed several projects to expand the role of civil society in the management of migration, through support to the development of national NGOs involved in this sector.

41.       The Russian-Ukrainian Common Border Project has been established with a view to facilitating legal border-crossing and preventing irregular migration. IOM qualified personnel collaborate with national governments in restructuring administrative control systems and providing modern technical facilities at this very porous frontier.

42.       The Migration Health Services (MHS) of the International Organization for Migration have been an integrated part of the Organization since its foundation in 1951. Since then, its activities have changed from health service delivery to a more comprehensive approach to health issues affecting migrant populations, through the development of research, policy and advocacy.

43.       IOM conducts migration and travel health assessments, including pre-departure general health examinations of adults and children (over 77,000 in 2002), pre-departure treatment of infectious diseases of public health significance (tuberculosis, malaria, treatable sexually transmitted diseases, intestinal parasites, and others), immunizations, pre/post test HIV counselling, technical assistance for DNA testing for family reunification, pre-embarkation checks for fitness to travel and provision of medical escorts.

44.       As regards the protection and assistance to victims of trafficking, IOM provides health examinations and diagnostic assistance, treatment of conditions such as tuberculosis or sexually transmitted infections, counselling (e.g. psychological and psychiatric counselling/treatment, HIV/AIDS pre and post-test counselling and counselling on reproductive health conditions).

45.       When migration is the result of war or destructive events, forced migrants and returnees should be granted adequate compensation for any damage to their properties and belongings. Over the years, compensation activities of IOM have been enlarged to include the payment of compensation to people forced to move during the second world war due to persecution.

46.       In June 2001 an extensive programme (Forced Labour Compensation Programme) has been activated in Germany. Currently, the resources allocated by the German Federal Foundation account for almost one third of the total amount of the IOM’s operational budget. Working together with seven other partner organisations, IOM processes compensation claims from non-Jewish victims who had been interned in German concentration camps or deported to an occupied area. To this end IOM circulates information about the compensation system among potential beneficiaries, receives the claims, processes and reviews applications for compensation and disburses payments to successful claimants. IOM has already compensated more than 40.000 eligible people and hopes processing most of the 175.000 residual claims by the end of 2004.

47.       IOM contributes to the implementation of two other projects in this area: one for those who were targeted by the Nazi regime in Switzerland, through dormant accounts still available in Swiss banks; one second for needy Sinti and Roma survivors of nazi persecution.

48.       Research, mass information and educational activities are acquiring growing importance in IOM strategic plans. Education and information are powerful tools to combat illegal migration and assure the respect and the dignity of migrants. In 2000 IOM published the first ever World Migration Report, and in 2001 launched the Migration Policy and Research Programme, whose main aim is to raise general awareness about migration issues by providing policy makers and non-governmental organizations concerned with reliable information and support. By establishing a network for all these agencies, IOM helps them avoid overlapping and manage migration issues in a more effective way.

49.       Nowadays, IOM has over 40 projects on mass information. Their scope differs largely, depending on the interest that has to be pursued (illness prevention, management of labour migration, counter-trafficking, training of officials and journalists, children education). In fact, IOM integrates

almost all its projects with information campaigns and educational activities (multi-component projects). The main goal of the overall information activity is to promote the image of migrants by combating racism and xenophobia.

50.       In 2001 an Action Group on Asylum and Migration was created by IOM and UNHCR to promote a better understanding of the nexus between migration and asylum and to enhance the operational capacity of the two organizations. Furthermore, in June 2001 IOM in cooperation with the Swiss government set up the Bern Initiative, aimed to develop guiding principles to facilitate cooperation between states.

51.       IOM is also engaged in electoral registration programmes. These programmes enable people with the right to vote, who live or are stranded abroad, to register and cast their vote through centres of collection, managed by IOM. In 2001, these programmes received some 125.000 in-person and by-mail voters’ registration for the Out of Kosovo Voting Programme. In the previous year IOM, in cooperation with UNHCR, carried out a similar project for Serbia and Montenegro, registering more than 100,000 entitled people. These activities were carried out in close cooperation with the OSCE.

4.       IOM future activities: challenges and objectives

52.       As stated in the Report of the Director General of IOM for the year 2001, “the terrorist attacks of 11 September have had a significant effect on migration issues. […] Although there has been a natural reaction of concern about security, and how migration impacts on social and economic security and stability, there has been a new clarity on the importance of managing migration effectively; on looking at instituting regular channels of migration to decrease the pressure for irregular migration; on more comprehensive and cooperative measures to counter the smuggling and trafficking of migrants; on the need for effective integration and more work on the sustainability of return to avoid exclusion and marginalization of migrants and returnees; on the promotion of development through migration; on the importance of information and education on migration issues; and on the key role played by NGOs and civil society as partners in many of these activities”.

53.       Future migration policies face new challenges, such as:

54.       IOM tries to assist governments in addressing these issues. IOM is aware that the effective respect of migrant’s rights requires overcoming the old categorisation of “migrants” as opposed to “refugees”, with only the latter being entitled to international protection. In fact, there is a growing number of people, undocumented and unidentified, who move from one country to another and are in need of migration assistance and appropriate protection, even if they do not fall under the traditional notion of a refugee.

5.       Conclusions and recommendations

55.       The programme of structural reforms undertaken in the years between 1994 and 1997 has resulted in a more efficient organization, able to increase both the range of activities performed and the number of people assisted.

56.       There are some urgent and prominent issues of concern to both the IOM and the Council of Europe, namely: the orderly management of migration; the improvement of the legal framework to fight against trafficking, a better knowledge of the phenomenon and the assistance to its victims; the establishment of clear and transparent channels for legal migration. These common concerns and goals make of the IOM and the Council of Europe natural partners for co-operation.

57.       Your Rapporteur, therefore, believes that the Committee of Ministers should:

APPENDIX

PROGRAMME

27 FEBRUARY 2003

9.30 am       WELCOME BY MR BERNARD LESCAZE, PRESIDENT OF THE GRAND CONSEIL OF THE REPUBLIC AND CANTON OF GENEVA

9.45 am-12.30 pm       EXCHANGE OF VIEWS WITH THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM) ON ITS 2003 WORK PROGRAMME AND PRIORITIES

Chair:       Mr Tadeusz Iwiński, Chair of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography

9.45 am       Welcome address:       Mr Brunson McKinley, Director General, IOM

10-11 am       IOM services:

11-11.15 am       Break

11.15 am-12.20 pm       IOM policy, emergency, post conflict and special activities:

12.20 pm       Conclusions and recommendations: Mr John Wilkinson (United Kingdom, EDG), Rapporteur on the Activities of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) (1998-2002)

Reporting Committee: Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography.

Reference to committee: standing mandate.

Draft recommendation adopted by the Committee on 31 March 2003 with 38 votes in favour, 0 votes against, and 1 abstention.

Members of the Committee: Mr Iwiński (Chairperson), Mr Einarsson (1st Vice-Chairperson), Mrs Bušić (2nd Vice-Chairperson), Mrs de Zulueta (3rd Vice-Chairperson), Mrs Akgün, MM. Akhvlediani, Aliyev G., Arabadjiev, de Arístegui, Arzilli, Bernik, Van den Brande, Branger, Braun, Brînzan, Brunhart, Cabrnoch, Çavusoğlu M., Christodoulides, Cilevičs, Çörüz, Danieli, Debarge (alternate: Salles), Dmitrijevas, Dokle, Donabauer (alternate: Himmer), Dubié, Mrs Err, Mrs Filipiová, Mr Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg, Mrs Frimannsdóttir, MM. Grzesik, Grzyb, Gülçiçek, Hancock, Higgins, Mrs Hoffmann, MM. Hovhannisyan, Ilaşcu, Ivanov, Lord Judd, MM. Karpov, Kerimo, Mrs Kósá-Kovács, MM. Koulouris (alternate: Mrs Katseli), Kulikov (alternate: Popov), Kvakkestad, Laakso, Le Guen, Liapis, Loutfi, Matviychuk, Mrs Nabholz-Haidegger, MM. Naro, Nasufi, Nessa, Popa, Prijmireanu, Puche, Pullicino Orlando, Rakhansky, Reymann, Mrs Shakhtakhtinskaya, MM. Slutsky, Soendergaard, Mrs Stoisits, MM. Stübgen, Tekelioğlu, Tkáč, Vera Jardim, Mrs Vermot-Mangold, MM. Vieira, Wilkinson, Wray, Yáñez-Barnuevo (alternate: Agramunt), Zavgayev, Zhirinovsky, Mrs Zwerver.

N.B. The names of those members present at the meeting are printed in italics.

Secretariat of the committee: Mr Lervik, Mrs Nachilo, Mrs Sirtori-Milner.