Council of Europe

IOM is finalizing a diaspora mapping exercise of skilled Somali migrants in the UK. The project, the first of its kind, is designed to encourage migrants with technical skills to participate in the development of their home country. The survey focuses on “educated, qualified and trained practitioners in the fields of health, engineering, general technical support, education, law and technology” in the Somali UK diaspora.

Somalis have settled in the UK since the mid-19th century, when Somali sailors first arrived in UK port cities. The civil war and instability in Somalia between 1988 and 1991, which continues today, triggered an exodus and there are now between 100,000 and 200,000 people of Somali origin living in the UK. […]

Since its institution by WHO Member States at the World Health Assembly in 2007, World Malaria Day (WMD) has been celebrated on April 25th each year with events aimed at highlighting the continued need for political support for and investment in the control, prevention and elimination of the disease.

As the Millennium Development Goals are set to expire and the post-2015 development agenda under discussion, this year’s WMD theme: Invest in the Future: Defeat Malaria is more important than ever before. IOM wants a future without malaria, but this goal cannot be accomplished without more funding for programming and research that improves access to malaria prevention and treatment for migrants, mobile and cross-border populations – a highly vulnerable, often invisible, hard-to-reach and neglected group. […]

IOM and the Handicap International Federation have signed a global Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together in emergencies to help vulnerable people, including people with disabilities, the injured, and those struggling with forced displacement, particularly following natural disasters.

The agreement, which will serve as a basis for future collaboration, is designed to strengthen links between the two agencies in the field and follows an earlier, country-level MoU agreed in Haiti, where the two organizations worked together to help victims of the catastrophic January 2010 earthquake. […]

In today’s increasingly mobile and interconnected world, migration has become an integral part of the lives of about 215 million international and 740 million internal migrants. It also profoundly affects the lives of their families back home, as well as people in communities of migrant origin, transit and destination world-wide.

“On World TB Day, we note that despite well-established diagnosis and treatment regimens, TB remains a public health burden in many parts of the world, disproportionately affecting poor and marginalized populations, such as migrants. TB prevention and control efforts often do not address the specific vulnerabilities of migrants and we therefore frequently see delayed diagnosis and/or discontinued treatment of TB”, says IOM Director General William Lacy Swing. “The absence of targeted TB prevention, control and surveillance strategies for migrants is a barrier to reaching global TB elimination targets, including the aspirational goals of Zero TB Deaths, Zero TB Disease and Zero Suffering”, he adds. […]

Young migrants - who came to Ireland as children to join their non-EU parents - face enormous barriers to third level education. In this animated short, the young members of MRCI's Migrant Education Access explain the issue and tell their stories. […]