Brunson McKinley, Director General of the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), will today present
the annual Director General’s Award to staff in recognition
of outstanding work.

The ceremony takes place at 1600 local time at
the organization’s headquarters in Geneva.

Announcing this year’s list of awardees,
McKinley said: "2005 was a dramatic and challenging year,
containing as it did both the tsunami disaster and the Pakistan
earthquake in addition to the ongoing excellent work worldwide.
Choosing individual award winners has been even more difficult than
usual as outstanding performances have been so
widespread.”

This year, there will be nine individual and
two group awards as well as recognition for four IOM missions -
Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

The awards reflect the global and immensely
varied work of IOM as well as individual strength, courage and
commitment of its staff. Among the awardees are an IOM team who
helped thousands of vulnerable internally displaced Sudanese people
over several months as they trekked through dense forests and
swamps to get home, an IOM staff member whose actions saved the
lives of five colleagues when an IOM office in Afghanistan was
attacked and several staff for great leadership and management at
difficult times or in difficult circumstances.

The full list of recipients of the Director
General’s Award for 2005 is as follows:

• Maureen Achieng, IOM Port-au-Prince, for her many
  accomplishments and strong leadership in Haiti.
• Danielle Grondin, for her leadership of the IOM team in its
  successful effort to put migration health on the world’s
  agenda.
• Alejandro Guidi, IOM Ecuador, for his outstanding management of
  IOM programmes for vulnerable populations in Ecuador.
• Shakib Herayzad, IOM Herat, for saving the lives of colleagues
  during an attack on the IOM Herat office.
• Mariam Khokhar, IOM Islamabad, for her essential contribution
  to IOM’s immediate earthquake response.
• Agueda Marin, IOM San José, for her dedication and
  innovative programming in counter-trafficking in Central
  America.
• Bruce Reed, IOM Manila, for his leadership in establishing the
  Manila Administrative Centre and coordinating IOM’s tsunami
  response.
• Abdolreza Samadzadeh, IOM Tehran, for holding the Iran mission
  together through personal commitment and example.
• Officer-in-charge in one of the IOM sub-offices in Iraq (Name
  withheld due to security reasons), for his unwavering commitment to
  IOM and its operations in the South of Iraq.

Group Awards:

• Sudan Trek
  • Bill Lorenz
  • Aden Guliye
  • Andrew Gethi
  • Abbass Ahmed

  For their splendid assistance, in the best spirit of IOM, to the
  homeward bound Sudanese Trekkers.

• Pakistan Mountain Team
  • Isabelle Giasson
  • Daniel Desmarais

  For their notable humanitarian spirit on behalf of earthquake
  victims at high altitudes during the winter months.

Mission Awards:

• Colombia, for sustained excellence in the development and
  delivery of programmes in Colombia.
• Indonesia, for responding to the enormous needs following the
  tsunami disaster in Indonesia.
• Sri Lanka, for responding to the enormous needs following the
  tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka.
• Zimbabwe, for tireless work and achievements in providing
  assistance to vulnerable populations in Zimbabwe.

Members of the press and representatives from
diplomatic missions are welcome to attend to award ceremony.

For those wanting interviews with any of the
above, please contact IOM Media and Public Information at: + 41 22
717 9486