IOM’s collaboration with the United Nations has always been close, but became even more so when IOM joined the UN in September. As the leading inter-governmental agency in its field of specialization, IOM can now work in partnership with the United Nations on a broad range of migration-related issues.
This will help ensure that the issues surrounding the world’s international migrants are well addressed, including issues in the humanitarian, development, human rights, climate change and peace and security domains.
At the United Nations Summit on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants which took place on 19 September in New York, IOM Director General William Lacy and UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon signed a document linking IOM to the UN as one of its related organizations. This event signalled the culmination of a process that began in earnest in June 2016 when IOM Member States unanimously endorsed the process to join the UN.
“The signature of this historic agreement brings the leading global migration agency, International Organization for Migration (IOM) – into the United Nations – the culmination of a 65-year relationship. For the very first time in 71 years, the UN now has a ‘UN Migration Agency’,” Ambassador Swing said, adding, “This is a singular honour for our Organization – and a genuine success for migrants and Member States and indeed for this Summit.”
