Press briefing note 2-12-11.
About 50 government ministers, deputy prime ministers and deputy ministers will be among those attending IOM’s 100th Council next week to mark the Organization’s 60th anniversary and to look to the future of migration.
The IOM Council, taking place in Geneva between 5-7 December,
will be the largest ministerial gathering in the Organization’s
history.
Keynote speeches will be made by Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser,
the President of the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly and
Peter Sutherland, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative
for Migration and Development on 6th December.
A statement by IOM Director General William Lacy Swing,
focusing on the future of migration or the so-called “third wave”
of globalization will set the stage for the Ministerial segment of
the Council on the same day.
Complementing those insights will be the official launch of the
World Migration Report 2011 which this year
focuses on Communicating Effectively about
Migration given the all too-often biased, polarized and
negative debate on migration and migrants.
The launch of the report, which advocates the need for
migrants to have a greater say in the migration polemic in a bid to
more clearly illustrate the human dimension of this global
phenomenon, will be followed by a special panel of
Migrants’ Voices.
Sharing their experiences and thoughts on how migration has
shaped our world, panellists include Oxford University Professor
Ian Goldin, the well-known basketball player Dikembe Mutombo, the
Sierra Leonian Deputy Foreign Minister and one-time migrant, Ebun
Aforo-Jusu, journalist Katie Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee and Eric
Urfer, director of the Yverdon Conservatory of
Music.
Meanwhile, at least 14 new countries have applied for membership
to IOM at this special Council. Their admission on the first day of
the gathering will increase IOM membership from 132 countries to
146.
These include Antigua and Barbuda, Chad, the Union of Comoros,
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guyana, the Holy See, Maldives, Micronesia,
Mozambique, Nauru, South Sudan, Seychelles and Vanuatu.
In addition, the Economic Community of Central African States
(ECCAS), the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA) and the NGO Committee on Migration, will
be admitted as Observers to IOM.
“The admission of so many new Members and Observers at
this Council not only underlines IOM’s significant growth in the
past 10-15 years, but also the critical importance of migration to
global development. There is a clear and growing recognition that
despite the many economic challenges the world is currently facing,
migration is here to stay and that we all need to work together to
ensure its success in the future,” says IOM Director General
William Swing.
