Inter-Agency Standing Committee

Created by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution 46/182 in 1991, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) is the longest-standing and highest-level humanitarian coordination forum of the UN system, bringing together the executive heads of 18 UN and non-UN organizations to ensure coherence of preparedness and response efforts, formulate policy, and agree on priorities for strengthened humanitarian action.  

The IASC is chaired by the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) and facilitates the leadership role of the UN Secretary-General by regularly convening to ensure better preparation for, as well as rapid and coherent response to, humanitarian crises. 

A Standing Invitee of the IASC since 1991, in 2016, IOM's status was converted to full membership following the entry into force of the Agreement concerning the Relationship between the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration.  

As one of the largest humanitarian actors, IOM actively engages at all levels of the IASC structure.  IOM’s humanitarian crisis response is built on the standards and principles agreed by the IASC, and the Organization contributes actively to setting these standards that guide the entire formal humanitarian sector.  

Through its consistent and active participation in the IASC, IOM ensures that its humanitarian crisis response is part of a coordinated and harmonized response, strengthening effective and principled action.  

IASC Strategic Priorities (2022-2023) focus on the collective strengthening of operational response, accountability and inclusion, collective advocacy, humanitarian-development collaboration and its linkages to peace, and humanitarian financing. 

IOM engages actively at the Principal level and in subsidiary bodies and associated entities that support the IASC in fulfilling its mandate.