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 member 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, email : ddeketele@iom.int
