IOM in the XXI Century

2000

As the country stabilizes in the aftermath of popular vote for independence in Timor-Leste, IOM organizes the return of about 140,000 refugees by sea, land and air.  

2001

Over a period of six months, IOM helps repatriate 25,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea who have fled from conflict fueled by the sale of blood diamonds in Sierra Leone and Liberia.  

1999-2002

IOM assists demilitarized Kosovo Liberation Army combatants to reintegrate into civilian life.  

2004

IOM implements the largest ever Out-of-Country Registration and Voting programme, enabling nearly 850,000 Afghan nationals in Pakistan and Iran to vote during the presidential election.  

2005

IOM launches its largest ever emergency response in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand following the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.  

2010

In response to the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, IOM joins the international community in providing shelter and relief assistance, later expanding its mission to help fight the spread of cholera in the country.  

2011

IOM evacuates over 200,000 vulnerable African and Asian migrant workers stranded in the Middle East as an upsurge in violence following the Arab Spring leads to the fall of regimes in Egypt and Libya.   

2013

IOM participates in and facilitates a total of 18 regional consultative processes on migration globally to foster cooperation among member states.  

2014

IOM launches its Missing Migrants Project to track incidents involving migrants, including refugees and asylum-seekers, who have died or gone missing in the process of migration towards an international destination. 

IOM responds to the “crisis” of mass departures from North Africa, Syria and Afghanistan.   

2015

The Government of Canada, IOM and its partners resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada in less than three months, as the war in Syria reaches its sixth year and displaces almost three million people. 

The United Nations General Assembly adopts the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognizes migration as a core development consideration and marks the first time migration is integrated explicitly into mainstream global development policy, particularly under SDG number 10. 

2016

At IOM's Special Council in June 2016, IOM Member States endorse the move to join the United Nations. IOM and the UN sign the agreement in September.  

2017

IOM leads the inter-agency humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh to where over 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to escape violence in Myanmar. 

2018

The United Nations General Assembly endorses the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM), the first-ever UN global agreement on a common approach to international migration in all its dimensions. IOM takes on its role as coordinator and secretariat of the UN Network on Migration, which was established to support the implementation, follow-up and review of the GCM.  

2019

IOM, UNHCR and the European Commission host an International Solidarity Conference to mobilize support in addressing the needs of some 4.5 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants who left their country as a result of the political turmoil, socio-economic instability and humanitarian crisis, and affected host communities.    

2020-2021

In line with WHO recommendations, IOM’s global workforce is mobilized across the world, drawing down on decades of experience and working with dozens of governments to plan their responses and save lives as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves into one of the most significant mobility crises ever.