IOM, USAIM Launch Migrants Contribute Campaign in Washington
Analysis
IOM Runs Worldwide Information Campaign on the Contribution of Migrants
IOM is currently conducting a worldwide campaign on the positive Contribution of Migrants. It intends to correct common misrepresentations and information deficits and make it more likely that governments, societies and migrants can reap the considerable positive potential of international migration, and increase the potential for migrants to have their rights protected and fulfilled.
It will highlight the historically and overwhelmingly positive contribution migrants make to host and home country societies by focusing not on where they came from but on what they bring: “New skills. New ideas. New points of view. New progress. And what they bring can benefit everyone”. The campaign underlines the individuality of every migrant, focusing not on aggregate numbers, but on the personal story, potential and capacity that every migrant carries “in his or her suitcase” so to speak.
The campaign’s messages will be delivered through a broad range of complementary and mutually supporting media that include: outdoor posters, banners and billboards, info sheets, brochures and other print materials, a dedicated website as well as regular and intense social media presence and others.
IOM and its partners will seek to implement the campaign in eventually 50 countries – both traditional immigration countries but also newer destinations with considerable inflows and outflows. Migrants’ countries of origin will also be considered. The campaign will be carried out in stages, in batches of 10-12 countries and will last between 3 and 5 years. Countries part of the first batch will include: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Italy, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Thailand, South Africa, Switzerland, the US. Others may be considered, under reserve of government approval and support.
IOM will work with a large range of partners from all levels of society – civil society organizations, the private sector and of course, migrants themselves. The idea of the campaign is one of broad partnership.
For more info on the campaign please go here:
www.migrantscontribute.com
or contact the campaign’s global manager, Mr. Laurentiu Ciobanica:
lciobanica@iom.int
United States - Ahead of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., a celebration of Spring that brings more than 1.5 million visitors to the city each year, the IOM Migrants Contribute Campaign is reaching its first location in North America this month.
Following a generous contribution from the Government of Sweden, it was decided to launch the campaign in three selected locations including Sweden, Belgium and the United States.
IOM Washington has partnered with the US Association for International Migration (USAIM), IOM’s non-profit partner in the United States, to co-launch the campaign across Washington’s most frequented public transportation routes, the Metro rail and bus.
The campaign highlights migrants’ diverse skills, points of view, and determination, showcasing the positive contribution of migrants around the world. It pictures migrants who bring more than just a suitcase and who travel with an intention to make an impact in their communities.
The message is sure to resonate in a country well-known to be home to a growing number of migrants – the population of foreign-born in the US has more than doubled in the last 30 years. According to the 2010 US Census, 12.9 per cent of the total population in the US are foreign-born and over 17 per cent of all foreign-born made the move to the country in 2005 or later. Mexico, China, India, and the Philippines represent the prominent countries of origin (in descending order) of the US foreign-born population.
“With migrants in every corner of the world, the number of foreign-born in the United States is not what is impressive, it is what those people contribute to their communities,” said James N. Purcell Jr. Chairman of the USAIM Board of Directors.
In the United States, 11.5 per cent of the foreign-born population hold advanced degrees. An example is Alfredo Quiñones, a 38-year old neurosurgeon and director of the brain-tumor program at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital in the State of Maryland. Quiñones, who started his life in the U.S as a farm worker after growing up poor in Mexico, demonstrates the positive force of migration.
“In a country with millions of people constantly coming and going it is important for the conversation about migration to have a positive undertone. Everyone has something to contribute to their communities, and people on the move are no exception,” added Purcell.
The campaign is expected to reach 3.8 million people a week in the heavily commuted Washington, D.C. area.
For more information about USAIM, visit the website at www.usaim.org.
To learn more about the campaign visit http://www.migrantscontribute.com.
For more information please contact
Maria Moreno
USAIM Washington DC
Tel: + 1 202-862-1826 Ext.230
Email: mgmoreno@iom.int