Maldives Becomes Member of International Organisation for Migration

Maldives was yesterday admitted as a member of the InternationalOrganisation for Migration (IOM), continuing the Government's effortsto work with key international organisations to improve the welfare ofpeople in the Maldives.

With the admission of the Maldives and others,the IOM now has 146 members from all regions of the world. IOM expertshave already begun work with the Maldives Government to help with thebetter management of migration in the country - especially in thecontext of the large numbers of migrant workers in the Maldives.

Established in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmentalorganization in the field of migration and works to help ensure theorderly and humane management of migration, to promote internationalcooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practicalsolutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistanceto migrants in need, including refugees and internally displacedpeople.

Confirmation of Maldives' membership came during the 2011 IOM Councilin Geneva (5-7 December), a meeting which also marks theOrganisation's 60^th anniversary.

Speaking to assembled ministers and ambassadors at the meeting, H.E.Ms. Iruthisham Adam, Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said that theMaldives is delighted and deeply honoured to be admitted as a memberof this International Organisation for Migration.

"The Maldives is in the particular situation of being a Small IslandDeveloping State, until very recently a member of the UN’s LeastDeveloped Country category, which nevertheless is a major destinationcountry for economic migrants. Indeed, economic migrants, especiallyfrom elsewhere in South Asia, make up around one quarter of our totalpopulation.

The Maldives greatly values the contribution they have made andcontinue to make to our economy and society. However, the situationalso raises a range of challenges, especially relating to our human,technical and financial capacity to manage such population movements.

That is why the Maldives decided, last year, to apply for membershipof the IOM. We hope our membership will allow us to benefit from IOMexpertise and support in order to sustainably manage migration, bothinternal and external, in a way which fully benefits the migrantsthemselves and the wider Maldivian society".

Speaking in response, the Director-General of the IOM, AmbassadorWilliam Lacy Swing, welcomed the Maldives as a member and praised theMaldives Government's efforts to draw attention to the impacts ofclimate change on Small Island Developing States.

The new members of the IOM are Antigua and Barbuda, Chad, the Union of Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guyana, the Holy See, Maldives, Micronesia, Mozambique, Nauru, South Sudan, Seychelles and Vanuatu.