Switzerland - The 101st Session of the IOM Council will take place Tuesday 27th – Friday 30th November, 2012 in Conference Room XVII at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The meeting is open to media.

The Council is IOM’s highest governing body and determines the Organization’s policies. It comprises one representative from each of IOM’s 146 Member States, each of whom has one vote.

The 101st Council will see applications for membership from two more States – the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The UN World Food Programme, World Vision International and the African and Black Diaspora Global Network on HIV and AIDS (ABDGN) will also apply for Observer status. IOM Observers currently include 13 States, 45 intergovernmental agencies and 49 NGOs.

During the meeting, Member States are also expected to vote on resolutions relating to IOM and the 2013 UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development, and to IOM’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework – a blueprint for a comprehensive and sustainable approach to meeting migrants’ needs before, during and after emergencies.

High level contributions will include video statements by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Migration and Development Peter Sutherland. Greek Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection Nikolaos Dendias, together with representatives of some 40 IOM Member States and senior UN officials will also contribute.

IOM was established in December 1951 and began its operations in early 1952 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM). Its constitution was amended in 1989 when it was renamed the International Organization for Migration.

To download a copy of the Director General’s Report to the 101st Session of the Council and other Council documents, please go to: http://www.iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/about-iom-1/governing-bodies/council/101st-session.html