News
Global
21 July 2006

IOM Appeal Targets Stranded Migrants and Displaced Persons

With growing numbers of internally displaced people in Lebanon and
stranded migrants in need of evacuation assistance, IOM is urgently
appealing for US$ 12 million to provide assistance to these groups.

Increasing numbers of governments without the means to help
their nationals in Lebanon are requesting IOM to evacuate them from
Lebanon. Yesterday, IOM transported a group of 112 Sri Lankans by
land to Syria with a second convoy carrying 154 people including 19
children leaving early today. The 266 Sri Lankans, some of whom
have been in a particularly vulnerable situation, are due to fly
from Damascus to Sri Lanka tonight.

Sri Lanka says it has 5,000 migrants so far who have asked their
embassy to be evacuated out of an estimated population of 90,000 in
Lebanon. The Philippines government has advised IOM that it has
2,000 of its migrants in need of assistance, while Ghana has
notified IOM of 500 people in Beirut and an as yet undetermined
number in the city of Tripoli. Ethiopia, which estimates it has
about 20,000 of its nationals in Lebanon, is asking for assistance
for 2,000 people it says are in a dire condition.

Other countries that have approached IOM include Bangladesh,
Iraq, Moldova, Russia and Vietnam. IOM is also aware of other
groups such as Egyptians and Sudanese in need of assistance in
Lebanon and on the border with Syria. This includes a group of 80
Sudanese currently stranded at the Al-Arida border point.

Most of the stranded migrants are without money and travel
documents. Many, if not most, are domestic workers brought to
Lebanon by recruitment agencies and whose families depend on the
remittances they send home. In the case of the Sri Lankans, they
are virtually all single women. Some of them have been abandoned by
employers who have already sought refuge elsewhere.

"There has been much focus on the evacuation of nationals from
developed countries. But as the increasing number of requests to
IOM from governments show, there are many, many thousands of
stranded migrants from poorer countries who are in a particularly
vulnerable situation and who must not be forgotten," said IOM
Director General, Brunson McKinley.

IOM’s appeal will enable the Organization to assist up to
10,000 of the most vulnerable stranded migrants by evacuating them
to neighbouring countries and by providing them with transit
accommodation and air or sea transport to final destinations. The
appeal also incorporates medical evacuations and screenings.

Working closely with partners on the ground to respond to the
needs of internally displaced people (IDPs), IOM is also appealing
for funds to provide humanitarian assistance for up to 10,000 IDPs.
There are an estimated 500,000 IDPs in need of various types of
urgent humanitarian assistance. IOM is sending an IDP team in the
next few days to Lebanon to assess the situation.

The IOM appeal, to be incorporated into a UN flash appeal in the
coming days, is likely to be revised to reflect an evolving
situation.

For further information, please contact:

Jemini Pandya

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41 22 717 9486

Mobile: + 41 79 217 3374

Email: "mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int

Related Information

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