Madam Chairperson, Excellencies, distinguished
delegates,

Since this is the first time that the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) takes the floor in
the 61st session of the Second Committee debate, allow me, Madam
Chairperson, to extend, on behalf of IOM, our congratulations to
you and all members of the Bureau on your election.

Madam Chairperson,

Migration is one of the defining phenomena of
our time, and in 2006 it has attracted increased political
attention world-wide, thanks to a large extent to the catalytic
effect played by the preparation for and the holding of the
High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development
(HLD) that the General Assembly conducted in September.

In the course of the past nine months, growing
awareness of the importance to properly prepare for this event has
generated a host of activities, at the national, regional and
global level. IOM has been deeply engaged in supporting such
preparatory activities, promoting reflection and debate through a
series of events co-organized with a wide variety of partners. We
would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the cooperation
of national authorities, concerned UN departments, agencies,
programs and funds, as well as many other regional and
non-governmental organizations, including the private sector, with
whom we have worked hard to help prepare for the HLD. Above all, we
would like to thank government and local authorities in many
countries for the confidence they have shown in us and for giving
us the opportunity to work closely with them over the course of the
year.

The HLD has taken place with an unexpectedly
high-level participation, promoting debate on a wide range of
crucial issues and offering a rare opportunity for an open, non
confrontational global discussion on ways to enhance the positive
effects of migration and minimize its negative consequences. IOM is
pleased with the outcome of the HLD, much of which parallels the
key messages we strongly advocated throughout the lead-up
period.  We now look forward to contributing to making the
follow-up a success.

The HLD can be regarded as successful not only
in light of the intense activities that accompanied its
preparation, but even more so, from the perspective of proposals
for future action. We would like to focus in particular on three
issues, which it seems to us have gained considerable, well
deserved attention:

1. Stepped up measures to make migration work for
   development.  We have heard a number of delegations at the HLD
   addressing this matter with a genuine interest in and knowledge of
   emerging practices. We believe that among the many different
   innovative ways to implement concrete measures to make migration
   work for development, two are most prominent: first, mainstreaming
   migration into development planning agendas and second, building
   capacities to deal more effectively with the global labour
   market:
   
   
   
2. • As for the former, IOM is pursuing this approach in a few pilot
     countries. In Ghana, for instance, we are assisting the Government
     in reflecting migration issues into their national development
     strategy, specifically the second PRSP. IOM can not and should not
     pursue this goal in isolation, and therefore we are working to
     mobilize other development cooperation partners in giving priority
     to the development of guidelines and assessment tools which can
     assist governments to integrate migration issues in poverty
     reduction strategies.
     
     
     
   • As for international labour mobility, we presented at the HLD a
     conceptual “International Migration and Development
     Initiative” (IMDI).  It is a mechanism to facilitate
     capacity building for safe, legal and orderly participation in the
     global labour market.  We have begun working with several
     partners to better define this concept and pursue it with
     interested organizations and member states.
     
     
     
3. Inter-agency Coordination:  While IOM may be the sole
   inter-governmental organization with an across-the-board migration
   mandate, we recognize that partnership is needed among many
   agencies and entities involved in various aspects of migration,
   according to their areas of expertise. With this objective in mind,
   IOM was among the co-founders of the Geneva Migration Group in
   2003, which included six agencies with an interest in migration
   issues. In early 2006, with the encouragement of the UN SG, the GMG
   was expanded and renamed the Global Migration Group. Like our
   fellow GMG members, IOM is convinced that this coordination
   mechanism can play a crucial role in enhancing policy coherence and
   optimizing programming complementarity to support the beneficial
   aspects of migration.  It will be helpful if UN member states
   continue to acknowledge the work of the GMG and encourage its
   further strengthening.
   
   
   
4. Inter-governmental cooperation. The debate around the HLD has
   underlined the need for strengthening cooperation among governments
   at all levels. Regional organizations and consultative processes
   were recognized as a most useful space in forming building blocks
   for a sustained dialogue on migration and development. Likewise,
   the International Dialogue on Migration, created in the IOM Council
   in 2001, was acknowledged by many as an already existing avenue,
   whose potential needs to be more fully exploited. The
   Secretary-General, of course, made an important proposal to create
   a consultative, non-binding global forum which may bring new
   impetus in the search for effective formulas for debating migration
   at the global level. As several member states acknowledged at the
   HLD, it would appear sensible to associate the GMG agencies
   collectively and individually to this global endeavor, inviting
   them to support the organizers of the forum through their
   respective technical expertise. At the same time, the global forum
   could give to the GMG agencies a platform to present their
   migration-related activities to a wider constituency than the
   respective governing bodies of their members.  Certainly, for
   IOM’s part, should Member States so wish, we are committed to
   contribute to the Global Forum’s success.

Madam Chairperson,

The deliberations within the Second Committee
offer a unique opportunity to translate the goodwill which emerged
from the HLD into guidelines for action, in order to help all of us
move from words to concrete, results-oriented activities. They will
also feed into the debate at IOM’s Council later in November,
which will in turn contribute to a better definition of IOM’s
strategy, including its relationship with the UN. In this regard,
IOM is already engaged in a constructive dialogue on ways and means
to further improve cooperation between the UN and IOM according to
our respective memberships’ guidance.

The momentum created by the HLD should not be
lost. In this connection, IOM attaches great importance to the
deliberations here and looks forward to playing an active role in
this Committee.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson.