More than 500 undocumented migrants stranded in Morocco have
benefited over the past eighteen months from IOM's comprehensive
return and reintegration assistance.

The migrants, mainly young men from Congo Brazzaville, Cote
d'Ivoire, Guinea Conakry and the Democratic Republic of Congo,
solicited IOM's assistance after having spent, in some cases, years
marooned in Morocco without adequate resources.

Upon arrival, the migrants benefited from IOM's help to set up
income-generating projects with grants made available thanks to
funds from Belgium, Italy, Norway, The Netherlands and Switzerland
and carried out in cooperation with the Moroccan government and
countries of origin.

"It is crucial to provide sustainable reintegration assistance
to migrants who opt for voluntary return," says Stéphane
Rostiaux, IOM's Chief of Mission in Morocco. "Returning home
empty-handed can contribute to the stigmatization of migrants from
members of their family or community who have invested money and
hope in their failed migratory attempt."

IOM is currently evaluating the impact of its programmes in
Congo Brazzaville, Guinea Conakry and Senegal to find ways of
improving its reintegration assistance for irregular migrants who
request voluntary return.  

Since 2005, more than 1,800 undocumented migrants from twenty
countries in Sub Saharan Africa have benefited from IOM's voluntary
return programme.

New funding from the European Commission, Italy, the United
Kingdom and Switzerland will provide much needed return and
reintegration assistance to an additional 1,000 failed migrants
over the next 12 months.

For more information, please contact:

Dorien Deketele

IOM Rabat

Tél : + 212 (0)5 37 65 28 81

E-mail : "mailto:ddeketele@iom.int">ddeketele@iom.int