International Organization for Migration (IOM)
As the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration, IOM works to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people. In light of its mandate, IOM has been focusing on the complex dimensions of the water-migration nexus through both its policy and operational works.
IOM has been focusing on the complex dimensions of the water-migration nexus through both its policy and operational works. IOM has been raising awareness and persistently addressing environmental migration challenges due to water-related disasters. Within the framework of our policy and advocacy work, IOM resolutely engaged in the international scene to anchor migration-related issues in environmental and climate change policies. This has ensured that environmental and climate change, including water, considerations are now considered in migration policy agendas and that migration issues are taken into consideration in water-related policies.
IOM is committed to the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, not only through the provision of technical policy support on migration-related issues in water governance, but also by embodying the principle that “no one be left behind”. IOM recognizes that access to water and sanitation services, paired with hygiene promotion, is life-saving in humanitarian contexts, while sustainable access to water and sanitation services is also critical in the context of resolving displacement situations and building resilience to future shocks and stressors. IOM provides life-saving and longer-term Water, Sanitation and Hygiene promotion (WASH) services directly, as well through partners or coordinating with other actors for an appropriate response. IOM is currently undertakes WASH interventions in 25 countries.
Disaster risk reduction programming
With an ever-increasing number of people on the move, migration and its effects will be defining features of societies and environment in the 21st century. Exposing the linkages between human mobility, the environment and disasters is especially relevant in the context of the post Hyogo Framework for Action and ongoing dialogues on the global post-2015 development agenda.
Enabling and managing migrations will be key both for reducing one of the root causes of risk and for ensuring sufficient protection to especially vulnerable people in the wake of a crisis, allowing societies to fully benefit from mobility’s development potential.
World Toilet Day, 19 November, celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 3.6 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation. It is about taking action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. Worl … Read more
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030 are based on findings from the natural and social sciences and other fields regarding the implementation of necessary changes in order to ensure the survival and prosperity of all people and all forms of life on the planet. During an ope … Read more
Nearly 120,000 people have been displaced by flash floods caused by heavy rains across Chad in the month just ended. At least 32,000 of the affected persons are in the capital, N’Djamena. Many people whose houses have been destroyed remain in need of shelter and emergency assistance. “Not only does … Read more
Policy brief on enhancing access to services for migrants in the context of COVID-19 UN-Water A policy brief from the United Nations Network on Migration advocate for enhanced access to services for migrants in the context of COVID-19 preparedness, prevention, and response. The recommendations set o … Read more
UN-Water launch Analytical Brief on Unconventional Water Resources UN-Water Water scarcity is recognized as a key challenge to sustainable development and as a potential cause of social unrest and of conflict within and between countries. At the same time water is increasingly considered as an instr … Read more
