- Established in 1951, IOM is the principal intergovernmental organization in the field of migration. We are growing rapidly and currently count 149 member states and 98 observers, including numerous international and non-governmental organizations.
- IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It does so by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.
- 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.
- IOM works in the four broad areas of migration management: migration and development, facilitating migration, regulating migration, and addressing forced migration.
- Our mission is to contribute to the political, social economic, and humanitarian debate and action on migration within the multilateral framework of international dialogue and cooperation of the United Nations.
Our function is to foster productive cooperation between IOM and the United Nations system.
The Office focuses primarily on IOM's relations with the principal organs of the United Nations, the United Nations Secretariat, and the United Nations funds and programs based in New York. This requires regular liaison with United Nations offices, Permanent Missions, and relevant interlocutors in the non-governmental sector. The Office also follows a broad range of issues related specifically to IOM's cooperation with the United Nations on economic, social, humanitarian, and administrative fields and covers general United Nations' consideration of migration-related issues. In this regard, IOM participates in the work of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) for humanitarian cooperation. IOM was granted Permanent Observer status to the United Nations General Assembly in 1992. A cooperation agreement between IOM and the United Nations was signed in 1996.
