About

International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the intergovernemntal organization founded in 1951 with the headquarters in Geneva. The International Organization for Migration acts together with its partnerrs in the international community to:

  • Uphold the human dignity and well being of migrants;
  • Encourage social and economic development through migration;
  • Assist in meeting the growing operational challenges of migration management, and
  • Advance understanding of migration issues.

 IOM works in the four broad areas of migration management:

  • Migration and development
  • Facilitating migration
  • Regulating migration
  • Forced migration.

IOM activities that cut across these areas include the promotion of international migration law, policy debate and guidance, protection of migrants' rights, migration health and the gender dimension of migration.

 IOM in Czechia has been active since 1998. Among its main activities belong the following:

  • Assisted voluntary returns and reintegration
  • Migration and development
  • Labor migration
  • Prevention and combatting of trafficking in human beings
  • Support to capacity building in migration management
  • Integration of foreigners in the Czech Republic
  • Information sharing on migration issues

Migration is considered one of the defining global issues of the early twenty-first century, as more and more people are on the move today than at any other point in human history. There are now about 192 million people living outside their place of birth, which is about three per cent of the world's population.

This means that roughly one of every thirty-five persons in the world is a migrant. Between 1965 and 1990, the number of international migrants increased by 45 million-an annual growth rate of about 2.1 per cent. The current annual growth rate is about 2.9 per cent. 

Discourse on migration involves many perspectives. There is growing recognition that migration is an essential and inevitable component of the economic and social life of every State, and that orderly and properly managed migration can be beneficial for both individuals and societies. The multiple and complex dimensions of migration include: 

  • labour migration
  • family reunification
  • migration and security
  • combating irregular migration
  • migration and trade
  • migrant rights
  • health and migration
  • integration
  • migration and development.