International Organization for Migration

32nd Session of the Standing Committee on Programmes and Finance

27-28 June 2023

Item 4 - Presentation by the Director General

EU Statement

Chair, Director General, Excellences and Distinguished Delegates,

I speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The candidate countries Albania^*, North Macedonia^*, Moldova, Montenegro[*] and Ukraine as well as the potential candidate country Georgia align themselves with this statement.

1. We thank the Director-General for his statement and the update on current activities.
2. This is the last Standing Committee where we have a pleasure and privilege of your presence, Director General António Vitorino. I would like to underline our appreciation and gratitude for your work and express the heartfelt thanks of the EU and its Member States to you for your dedication and commitment, for your leadership, and for your constant efforts to improve migrants’ situation and to advance global cooperation on migration. Your work has been instrumental both for improving IOM’s strategic vision, governance and operational achievements during these last five years and in equipping the organisation to better continue its essential work in the coming period. The EU and its Member States greatly value the close cooperation we have had with you.
3. Migration is a global reality which creates both opportunities and challenges for migrants and their countries of origin, transit and destination. The EU emphasises that no country can address migration and forced displacement on its own, whether in Europe or elsewhere in the world. The membership needs IOM more than ever. We therefore look forward to DG elect Amy Pope to continue steering IOM with firm hands, consolidating ongoing reform processes, with the help of IOM staff, and ensuring the good functioning and continuing smooth operational activities of the organisation. As the EU and its member states we look forward to our continued solid and good cooperation with IOM, which is a priority for the EU.

Chair,

4. The EU and its Member States take note of the “Annual Report 2022”. We value the commitment of IOM and its partners on the ground, what very often comes with a great sacrifice. We would like to express our sincere condolences to the families and colleagues of staff who have lost their lives while providing assistance to people in humanitarian crises, notably during the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria, and recently in Sudan.
5. Unfortunately, 2022 was again a record year for forced displacement. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine triggered one of the largest and fastest-moving displacement crises in history. The UN agencies, the EU and its Member States and Moldova played a significant role in assisting millions of Ukrainians and other nationals fleeing war.
6. The year 2023 is proving to be another challenging year with regards to migration in the EU and beyond. IOM plays a crucial role in further strengthening migration governance globally in partnership with other actors in mixed migration flows, including other UN agencies, by providing technical assistance to many countries, as well as your work to improve data. We value and support your work and your efforts in mainstreaming migration into development policies and programmes.
7. We highly value and support IOM’s role in protecting migrants, promoting their rights and promoting mobility or skills partnerships, as well as fair and ethical recruitment across the globe. We believe these efforts are essential to provide for more possibilities for legal migration and answer labour shortages, respecting national competencies and migration policies. We are working towards contributing to these efforts as we also look into developing Talent Partnerships with partner countries.
8. We believe that creating legal pathways, while respecting national competencies and migration policies, and addressing the root causes can contribute to reducing the number of people opting for dangerous irregular paths all over the world leading to ever increasing number of deaths often at the hands of unscrupulous criminals, migrant smugglers and human traffickers.
9. We call for strengthened efforts to prevent irregular migration, strengthen border management and raise awareness about the risks of irregular migration, as well for jointly stepping-up efforts and cooperation to fight against smugglers and traffickers. As irregular migration issues entail multiple countries, a whole-of-route approach is needed.
10. We appreciate IOM’s progress on the operationalisation of its Policy on the Full Spectrum of Return, Readmission and Reintegration, including through the roll-out of common technical solutions such as the Electronic Readmission Case Management System funded by the European Union and Denmark. We value our partnership in this area and count on our continued good cooperation.
11. Finally, we welcome the achievements in improving IOM’s governance, strategic planning, efficiency, risk management, transparency and accountability and encourage you in carrying forward and consolidating this work. We encourage you also in strengthening monitoring and evaluation of programmes through the roll out and use of the Strategic Results Framework. The results of the MOPAN assessment should inform the next generation of reforms.

Thank you!

[*] Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process