IOM 35th SCPF - Item 4, Presentation by the Director General - EU Statement

International Organization for Migration

35^th Session of the Standing Committee on Programmes and Finance

4-5 November 2024

Item 4 - Presentation by the Director General

Geneva, 4 November 2024

Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States

Chair,

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

The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina[*] align themselves with this statement.

Director General,

1. We thank you for your report.
2. We take the opportunity to welcome Deputy Director General for Management and Reform, Ms. SungAh Lee, and wish her success in her new responsibilities.
3. The International Organization for Migration is a key partner for the European Union and its Member States. We highly value our partnership which is based on a comprehensive and humane approach to migration.
4. We thank you for the draft regional strategies and for consulting the membership. We believe the IOM has made an important effort in defining the strategic priorities for the future and the possible enablers to reach them at regional level. We would like to encourage a balance between the different aspects of migration policy under the third strategic objective. While legal pathways are well developed, we expect the same level of engagement with regards to inter alia return and post-return assistance, readmission and sustainable reintegration, border management, anti-smuggling, narratives on all aspects of migration, pre-departure measures and support for the integration of migrants into the labour market and societies and the involvement of the diaspora.
5. We stress the importance of countering the instrumentalisation of migrants for political purposes.
6. We welcome the recent presentation on the implications of the IOM joining the Joint Inspection Unit. We support IOM’s membership of the JIU and believe that the potential timeline you presented is realistic.
7. We appreciate your focus on further reinforcing internal accountability, oversight and transparency, including through the initiation of regular quarterly briefings by the Office of the Internal Oversight and an increased focus on risk assessment.
8. We welcome IOM’s commitment to apply a whole-of-route approach to address the challenges of mixed movements. We stand ready to work together on applying this approach, on which the recently adopted EU Pact on Migration and Asylum is also based. We underline the need for the IOM to work in close partnership with states, the UNHCR and other organisations.

Thank you!

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