Council of Europe

IOM has begun to implement a European Union (EU)-funded project: “Support to the Creation of an Electronic System of Pre-arrival Information Exchange between the Customs Authorities of Belarus and Ukraine (PRINEX).” The 2.5-year project will provide capacity building (study visits, trainings and workshops) for Belarussian and Ukrainian officials and will develop a secure pre-arrival information exchange system between the customs bodies of the two countries.

The EUR 4 million IOM project will be implemented in close partnership with the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus (SCCRB) and the Ministry of Revenue and Duties of Ukraine (MRDU), within the framework of the EU’s Eastern Partnership’s Integrated Border Management (EaP IBM) flagship initiative. The EU will provide EUR 3.667 million of the total budget. The project will establish a customs pre-arrival information exchange system at designated border crossing points between Belarus and Ukraine and at SCCRB / MRDU headquarters.

The PRINEX system will facilitate customs clearance procedures, reduce costly vehicle lines at the border, improve service delivery and improve the quality of life for people living in border areas. It will also make customs controls more effective and thus help to combat human trafficking, smuggling and organized crime. […]

Seafarers and fishermen in Ukraine, seeking employment through legitimate recruitment organizations, risk ending up trafficked at sea, according to a new report by the NEXUS Institute, an international human rights research and policy centre based in Washington D.C. and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva.

The report is based on a study of 46 men trafficked to Russia, Turkey and South Korea on vessels under Panamanian and Russian flags engaged in illegal crab fishing or cargo transportation. It is the first of its kind to carry out a comprehensive examination of trafficking of seafarers from Ukraine.

It details extremely harsh living conditions on board the vessels, regularly leading to serious injury, illness and even death. Crews were routinely denied medical care and traffickers often used violence to control the men and prevent rebellion over working conditions and non-payment. […]

IOM is this week organizing training on migration management for 26 immigration officers from Libya’s Ministry of Interior. The three-day workshop is part of IOM’s European Union (EU)-funded START project: “Stabilizing at-risk communities and enhancing migration management to enable smooth transitions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.” It will include modules dealing with migration management processes and concepts; identifying migration impact; enhancing the understanding of migrants’ rights, international obligations of the State; and regional and international cooperation in addressing migration. […]

IOM and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) have concluded an agreement on cooperation in matters of common interest. A formal agreement was signed today in Geneva, Switzerland, by IOM Director General William Lacy Swing and ICMP Director General Kathryne Bomberger. According to the agreement, the main areas of cooperation between the two international organizations will be to address the issue of missing persons from migration, displacement, human trafficking, and other causes. IOM and ICMP will also cooperate in conducting research studies on matters of mutual interest and other areas.

While ICMP estimates that millions of persons are missing as a consequence of armed conflict and violations of human rights, there are no precise numbers regarding how many persons are missing from migration, displacement and organized violence, including human trafficking and drug related violence. […]

In today’s increasingly mobile and interconnected world, migration has become an integral part of the lives of over 100 million women. At different stages of their lives, a growing proportion of these women leave their familiar surroundings to study, work, marry, reunite with their families or flee a dangerous situation. “For many women and girls, migration is a way to fulfil their potential, to develop and to exercise their human rights. But being both a migrant and female also exposes them to risk – the risk of being subjected to violence”, says Ambassador William Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Women migrants predominantly work in the informal sector – often in unregulated professions such as domestic work, agriculture or services – which makes them particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. The majority of victims of human trafficking are also women and girls. In addition, women tend to be over-represented among the 27.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) globally, and research indicates that in situations of crisis and forced displacement, the break-down of family and social structures exposes them to acute risks of physical and sexual violence. […]