Friday 14 November 2003

Press Briefing Notes
Friday 14 November 2003
Spokesperson: Jean Philippe Chauzy

GENEVA - IOM Council Session to Discuss Migration in a Globalized World
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA - Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals
COLOMBIA - Cooperation Agreement to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings



GENEVA - IOM Council Session to Discuss Migration in a Globalized World - The 86th session of the IOM governing body will open on Tuesday, 18 November 2003, in Conference Room XVII at the Palais des Nations.

This year's Council session "International Dialogue on Migration" will focus on Migration in a Globalized World.

On Tuesday morning, Gervais Appave, IOM's Director of the Migration Policy and Research Programme will deliver a presentation on migration trends and on the impact of global liberalization on migration.

"While in the field of trade enormous steps have been taken towards liberalization of the exchange of capital, goods and services, there have not been equivalent advances in the field of migration," says Appave. "The fostering of economic and social stability and development worldwide, while respecting the rights and integrity of migrants, is one of the major challenges of the international community as it sets a course for managing migration in an increasingly mobile world."

Migration is one of the defining global issues of the early twenty-first century. Approximately 175 million people reside outside their home country. Today, there is no longer a single State that can claim to be untouched by human mobility.

On Tuesday afternoon, the following guest speakers will discuss these issues in plenary: Mr. Jan O. Karlsson, Chair of the new independent Global Commission on International Migration, Dr. Milton Ray Guevara, Minister of Labour of the Dominican Republic; Mr. Ousmane Ngom, Minister in Charge of International Relations in Senegal; and Mr. Michel Dorais, Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

The former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Nitin Desai will serve as commentator.

The discussions will focus on four main migration and policy areas, which constitute the pillars of migration management: migration and development; facilitated migration; migration control; and forced migration.

At the opening session at least five of the Geneva agency heads who constitute the newly formed Geneva Migration Group (GMG) will make presentations on their perspectives regarding international migration management. The GMG is an informal grouping of agency heads with an interest in migration. The members present will be IOM (Brunson McKinley), ILO (Juan Somavia), UNCTAD (Rubens Ricupero), UNHCHR (Bertrand Ramcharan), and UNHCR (Ruud Lubbers).

On the second day of the Council, government policy-makers will present an update on selected migration developments in regional initiatives such as the Ministerial Dialogue on Migration in the Western Mediterranean (5+5) and the South American Forum on Migration. Updates will also be provided on significant local and thematic initiatives such as the Berne Initiative, the Asian Labour Ministerial Consultations, the Italian National Association of Municipalities immigration initiative, and the Regional Conference on Public Health and Trafficking in Human Beings in Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe.

During this year's Council session, Malta will be admitted as IOM's newest Member State. This will bring the number of IOM Member States to 102. The League of Arab States, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee-Center for International Migration and Integration, and the Jesuit Refugee Service have applied for observer status.

Members of the press are welcome to attend the Council session and discussions. A press conference will be held on Tuesday at 13h15 in Conference Room XVII at the Palais des Nations.

For more information, call Media and Public Information, Tel: (41) 022.717.9111 mpi@iom.int. IOM Council documents are available in English, French and Spanish on the IOM Website www.iom.int

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA - Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals - The IOM office in Sarajevo, UNDP, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are implementing the "Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals" (TOKTEN) programme aimed at recruiting Bosnian nationals living abroad to share their skills and contribute to the development of their country of origin.

TOKTEN will recruit 150 experienced consultants. The selected candidates will have the opportunity to return to BiH for a period of up to 2 months to work as short-term consultants in the public and private sector.

Once the participants have finished their consultancy, the candidate can continue providing their expertise through correspondence and exchange of pertinent technical literature.

IOM is urging Bosnian nationals living abroad to send their requests to the TOKTEN Website www.tokten.ba. The applicants will automatically be entered in the TOKTEN database. Upon assessment of their application, a steering committee will decide if the knowledge, working experience and skills of the applicant are relevant to the current needs in BiH.

Companies or institutions interested in hiring a consultant must fill an online request. Requests from companies, institutions or organizations will be evaluated by the steering committee composed of IOM, UNDP, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The committee will consult with both the applicant and the company/organization requesting a consultant. IOM will prepare the contracts and provide the consultants with a roundtrip air ticket and a per diem allowance.

In order to get the message out, IOM is launching an information campaign in BiH and abroad.

UNDP has provided financial support for the start up of the project with initial funding of US$100,000.

For more information, contact: IOM Sarajevo, Jovanovic Veselin Tel: 387 33 648 162 toktenbih@iom.int

COLOMBIA - Cooperation Agreement to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings - IOM and the Colombian National Public Prosecutor's Office have signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement aimed at protecting victims of trafficking, upholding their human rights, strengthening preventive actions and the penalties handed out to convicted traffickers.

The IOM Deputy Chief of Mission, Fernando Calado, said, "The signing of this agreement signals the beginning of a new stage in the fight against trafficking in persons; it is another tool to combat the impunity of the traffickers and to strengthen the justice system."

In recent years documented cases of trafficking have increased by 34%. It is estimated that there are currently between 45,000 and 50,000 Colombian women abroad being forced to work as prostitutes.

The agreement paves the way for IOM and the Public Prosecutor's Office to work together to increase awareness amongst officials concerned with trafficking, and to provide training in order for them to recognize the different types of crimes, in particular for them to know the legal tools that exist to combat and prevent trafficking and to punish the offenders.

Last week IOM held a training section with 30 public prosecutors from different parts of the country, officials of the Foreign Ministry, the Department of Security Administration (DAS-INTERPOL), the Colombian Family Welfare Institute and the Attorney General's Office.

IOM is providing technical support to the offices of the Public Prosecutors in 11 departments. The Agreement also calls for the creation of a database of trafficking offences that have been brought to the authorities. The information will prove useful when creating profiles of the criminals and to promote investigations.

This agreement is part of IOM's work to combat trafficking and is part of the mass information campaign currently underway. The campaign slogan is, "We all have Value, but we do not have a price". The Dutch Government through its embassy in Bogota and the US State Department supports it. The total amount of the programme for prevention, attention and reintegration is US$ 800,000.

For more information contact, IOM Bogotá, Zulma Serrano zserrano@oim.org.co Tel: 57.1.622.7774.