Council of Europe

As part of IOM’s ongoing work with the Government of Turkey to support Syrians who have fled into Turkey due to the conflict, IOM is providing transport, sanitation and other services to thousands of Syrians living in refugee camps.

Between July and November 2013, IOM, working with the government’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), has now provided transport to more than 12,000 Syrians in Adiyaman camp. The transport allows them to access medical facilities in Adiyaman and other Turkish cities.

Adiyaman camp, located 400km from the Syrian border, is home to some 10,000 Syrian refugees and is one of 21 camps across South East Turkey now housing more than 200,000 Syrians.

The majority of people making use of IOM’s service have been referred to the public hospital in Adiyaman for x-rays, blood tests, operations or any other specialized treatment currently unavailable in camp clinics. Other refugees are transferred to neighboring cities for treatment, if the services are not available in Adiyaman. […]

IOM has begun to provide medical screening and to conduct language and cultural orientation classes for a first group of about 100 Syrian refugees who will travel to Germany from Lebanon in mid-September 2013 for temporary stay.

The 100 are part of a group of 4,000 vulnerable Syrian refugees identified by UNHCR in Lebanon who will travel on IOM charter flights from Beirut to Hannover in about the next year. For another 1,000 refugees, the scheme will especially focus on their family ties to Germany.

The refugees will be admitted under the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)’s Humanitarian Admissions Programme (HAP). The programme is designed to facilitate the swift entry of vulnerable refugees from Lebanon to Germany to secure their immediate protection until such time as they are able to return home in safety and dignity or find other durable solutions. […]

A group of 101 Iraqi refugees will leave Turkey today (16/7/13) on an IOM charter flight bound for resettlement in Germany.

The group, currently living in Konya, Kayseri, Kırşehir, Sakarya, Aksaray, Amasya, and Yozgat, were referred by UNHCR and interviewed by officials from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in Ankara in May.

The IOM charter, arranged at the request of BAMF, will fly from Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport to Hanover. Two BAMF officials and an IOM medical escort will accompany the refugees, who have already undergone IOM health screening. They will be met at Hanover airport by a representative of the German Federal Ministry of Interior. […]

IOM’s Migrant Assistance Division in 2012 helped over 100,000 migrants from 191 countries through 426 active projects in 57 host countries. This was 70 per cent more migrants than in 2011.

The Division provides technical expertise in areas including migration policy, administrative and operational practices and procedures, training and direct assistance. Its key areas of focus include assisted voluntary return and reintegration, and protection of and assistance to vulnerable migrants, including victims of trafficking and unaccompanied migrant children.

Of the total number of migrants assisted, 77 per cent were male and 23 per cent were female. 87 per cent were adults and 13 per cent were children. Most were either failed asylum seekers, people who had overstayed their visas, or irregular migrants stranded in the European Economic Area who asked for IOM assistance to return home. Some 1,759 people also asked for IOM help to return home from Mexico and Canada. […]

IOM, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Directorate General for Development Cooperation, has launched a EUR 1.5 million programme to increase the capacity of formal and informal actors to provide psychosocial support to people affected by the crisis in Syria and neighboring countries.

The project will initially aim to train some 1,210 professionals and volunteers in Damascus, Rural Damascus, Homs, Aleppo and Lattakia in various aspects of psychosocial support in emergencies. […]