Global migration agency the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is set to come under the aegis of the United Nations in response to the deepening world refugee crisis.

An IOM spokesman has confirmed that member states had decided that it would be best if the IOM found its institutional home within the UN.

Spokesman Richard Ots said that the decision followed the recent surge in international migration and the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Mr Ots said the IOM’s mandate would not change, but that the SDG goals pertaining to migration will fall under the IOM.

“Some of the work we are doing … for example is on (preventing) sexual and gender based violence, but the responsibility for the implementation of that is carried by a number of UN agencies, UN women is one of them … but for migrant women this becomes clearly the responsibility of IOM,” he said.

The final approval for IOM’s joining the UN is due to be made by the UN general assembly on September 19.

Last year, the former UN High Commissioner, Antonio Guterres urged the International Organisation for Migration to join the United Nations as an important step towards a more effective multilateral migration system.

The IOM is widely considered to have strong capacities to take on the range of activities needed in both managing migration and providing states with a platform to increase international cooperation.

Currently, the IOM often works under the UN umbrella but without full membership or authorities. Bringing the IOM more comprhensively into the UN system would provide focus for increasing international cooperation and provide an equal counterpart to UNHCR, whose mission is focused on persons fleeing conflict and persecution, Mr Guterres urged in a speech last year.

But he outlined three major challenges that IOM would have to overcome to join the UN.

The first was the lack of a clear set of principles governing its actions on behalf of migrants. While the IOM’s mission is to promote humane and orderly migration, the organisation has no legal mandate to protect the rights of migrants, as compared to UNHCR’s strong protection mandate for refugees.

The IOM’s constitution could be amended to establish a clear statutory protection role. It would give greater substance to the important and often dangerous protection work that the IOM already does, such as the rescue and evacuation of migrants in countries that fall into crises resulting from conflict and acute natural hazards.

A second barrier, Mr Guterres identified was the way in which IOM receives its financial resources from states.

While state members provide for administrative costs on the basis of agreed upon assessments, the operational budget comes mostly from voluntary, earmarked allocations for specific programs and activities.

A large part of these funds support services to displaced persons in humanitarian emergencies, leaving functions related to the development, management and monitoring of migration policies underfunded.

Such activities would be essential if IOM were to be given the type of regulatory responsibilities that Mr Guterres suggested.

The third and most serious barrier to the IOM becoming a focus of a new multilateral regime on international migration is the reluctance of key states to see the IOM more closely tied to the United Nations. IOM is often described by government representatives as a lean, efficient organisation that has the capacity to respond quickly to the needs of states.

But this focus is also the basis of criticism by many NGOs that see the IOM as undertaking the bidding of states with too little regard for the rights of migrants.

The IOM was founded in 1951 — six years after the establishment of the UN, with the aim of fostering orderly and humane migration, initially for those displaced by the Second World War.

The organisation has more than 9,500 employees and 450 offices worldwide. It assisted an estimated 20-million migrants and refugees last year.

Mr Ots said by joining the UN, the IOM would benefit from improved co-operation from UN agencies.

Conflict and persecution caused global forced displacement to escalate sharply in 2015 reaching the highest level ever recorded and representing immense human suffering, according to the UN.

The annual Global Trends report said 65.3-million people were displaced as of the end of 2015, compared to 59.5-million just 12 months earlier. This is the first time that the threshold of 60-million has been crossed.

China also recently became a member of the IOM, bringing the total to 165 member states. China’s membership comes as two more new member states — Tuvalu and Solomon Islands — join the IOM, which this year is celebrating the 65th anniversary of the organisation’s founding.

Laurie Nowell
AMES Australia Senior Journalist