USAIM.org used to be the primary website for the non-profit US partner of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN migration agency. That organization was established in 1951, and is the primary vehicle for inter-government coordination to deal with migration.

Perhaps to align itself more with the IOM, USAIM.org decided to abandon this domain name, and adopt USAforIOM.org as its new name. With our interest in all things migration, we picked up the old name and intend to resurrect the old website as a historical record of the work of USAIM for IOM. Perhaps we will also add some new content that fits and goes along with the old.

Watch for the new, old USAIM back here as we get to this project. While we wait, you can get in touch.

The post A Historical Record – USAIM to USA for IOM appeared first on USAIM.

The post Syria appeared first on USAIM.

The post Lake Chad Basin appeared first on USAIM.

Iraq has been embroiled in conflict and violence for 14 years, most recently in the fight against the Islamic State.

Right now, over 3 million people are internally displaced within the country, many of whom have experienced great loss – family and friends killed, homes destroyed, left without livelihoods, educational opportunities, or access to medical care and other basic services. As the military operations continue, many more are expected to be displaced.

Exacerbating an already intense humanitarian situation, a major 7.3 earthquake rocked the city of Halabja in November. Approximately half of the homes in Kani Bardina village were severely damaged or destroyed as a result.

Now, temporary shelters are being set up as residents brace for a cold winter. Those injured in the quake, as well as Iraqis suffering from chronic diseases, are in desperate need of medical assistance and access to basic essentials.

THE SOCCER TEAM OF AL MUWALI

After escaping the military offensive to retake Mosul, Nazeeh was separated from all of his friends – including everyone on his soccer team.  “We love football and used to play as a team before ISIL took over,” Nazeeh said.

Nazeeh and his family were placed in Haj Ali, an emergency site, home to an estimated 32,000 displaced Iraqis. “People from the village tried to escape the fighting and fled in all directions. My friends went to different places with their families. The team was gone. We were scattered,” Nazeeh said.

After nearly two years of searching, Nazeeh found every member of his team from Al Muwali, all of whom had also settled in Haj Ali.  Finally reunited, they were able to play in a soccer match at the new sports facility constructed by IOM.

“I lost three years of learning and the freedom to play football,” he said.

IOM constructed sports and play areas at both the Haj Ali and Qayara emergency sites. Of the total displaced population living in both sites, over half are under the age of 17.  Deprived of part of their childhood, IOM is ensuring that these children have spaces where they can enjoy time with friends and celebrate their freedom.

After the game, Nazeeh, beaming with happiness, said “I love my friends and I love football. I really hope that we can continue to play together as a team, here in the camp and after we return to our village.”

IOM IN IRAQ

Since 2003, IOM has been dedicated to servicing the needs of the 3.3 million displaced people of Iraq.

IOM’s Mobile Medical Team conducted tests and treatment, and provided medication after the major earthquake outside Halabja. Following the Mosul crisis, we provided primary health, obstetric, gynecological and emergency care.  We also teach communities about good health practices and preventing communicable diseases.

IOM Camp Management staff oversaw registrations and prepared emergency kits in October when arrivals swelled the Haj Ali emergency site’s population to 30,156 people (6,538 families). All displaced families at Haj Ali were provided with a tent, a core relief package and access to medical services.

IOM’s Camp Management Team also assists families living in displacement sites, outside of formal camps. We have fixed windows and doors, rewired electricity, erected partitions for privacy, and rehabilitated latrines.

Through IOM’s Community Revitalization Program (CRP), we create spaces for exchanging community policing ideas and discussing security issues, and we provide equipment and light infrastructure to communities confronted by a high influx of migrants. IOM also established four community centers in Baghdad, Diyala, Kirkuk and Ninewa to rebuild physical infrastructure and strengthen social relations that were lost in conflict.

IOM offers help to displaced persons in Iraq, who often experience hyper-vigilance, anxiety, depression, anger, memory loss, and other conditions.

The post Iraq appeared first on USAIM.

The world began hearing of the existence of the slave trade in April 2017, when African migrants started sharing their stories with IOM staff in Niger and Libya. They quickly sounded the alarm on the existence of “Libyan slave markets.”

The recollections of migrants being sold mounted, along with stories of torture to pressure families into paying a ransom for their release.

In November 2017, CNN recorded footage showing two young men standing in the dark as an auctioneer shouts out prices, appearing to sell them for the equivalent of approximately $400 each.

Young African men bound for Europe are frequently caught in Libyan trafficking networks and sold for labor.  Additionally, up to 700,000 migrants are said to be trapped in Libya, where many are detained, tortured or even killed.

MIGRANTS BEING SOLD AS SLAVES IN LIBYA

In April 2017, IOM reported the story of “SC,” who said he was extorted as soon as he reached Agadez in Niger. There, he was pressed to pay $320 to be smuggled into Libya, and this was in addition to the several thousand dollars paid when he left his home in Senegal.

After being driven to Libya, SC was “sold and bought,” he told IOM staff in Niger. He was then taken to a private home, where more than 100 migrants were held hostage, while traffickers made ransom calls to the migrants’ families. During these phone calls, migrants are reportedly beaten so their families can hear the torture and eventually pay for their release.

“The situation is dire,” Mohammed Abdiker, IOM’s Director of Operations and Emergencies, said in a statement. “Some reports are truly horrifying and the latest reports of ‘slave markets’ for migrants can be added to a long list of outrages.”

CNN went to Libya to investigate the migrant slave trade. Equipped with concealed cameras, CNN’s team recorded their own video of a dozen people going “under the hammer” at a location just outside Tripoli.

“Does anybody need a digger? This is a digger, a big strong man, he’ll dig,” the salesman, dressed in camouflage gear, said in the CNN video. “What am I bid, what am I bid?”

Buyers raise their hands as the price rises, “500, 550, 600, 650 …”  Within minutes, it is over and the men, utterly resigned to their fate, are being handed over to their new “masters,” CNN reported.

Libya has become the main gateway for people, especially African migrants attempting to reach Europe by sea.  Most refugees fleeing conflict or migrants in search of better economic opportunities have sold everything to finance the journey.

IOM IN LIBYA

“Our priority needs to be protecting these migrants and others throughout the country, while making migration through Libya safe and regular,” said Othman Belbesi, IOM Libya Chief of Mission. “One death whether in the desert or at sea is one too many.”

IOM provides a variety of relief assistance to migrants, including the rehabilitation of detention facilities, medical assistance, and humanitarian repatriation to migrants’ home countries.  We also provide human rights training to local staff and advocate for improved longer-term assistance and protection for migrants and all other groups in the country.

IOM works to warn migrants of the dangers of putting their lives in smuggler’s hands.  For migrants stranded in Libya who wish to return home, we offer them the opportunity to do so with IOM’s assistance. This year alone, IOM has assisted well over 1,000 migrants to return to their countries of origin. IOM will soon have a network of way stations and temporary shelters linking the migrant trail from Senegal to Cameroon to offer migrants similar assistance.

IOM’s assistance to stranded migrants in Libya includes:

IOM provides emergency food rations, hygiene kits which contain soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, as well as blankets, mattresses and pillows.

IOM medical teams offer treatment and referrals, and support for local health authorities to prevent and treat communicable diseases. Additionally, we improve living, health and sanitary conditions in detention centers, including disinfection and fumigation.

Migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea are medically screened and referred for immediate assistance.  We inform migrants about the Humanitarian Repatriation and Reintegration program, which supports returns to countries of origin, and provide training, infrastructure and equipment to the Libyan Coast Guard at three points of disembarkation in Libya.

The post Libya appeared first on USAIM.

The number of trafficking victims worldwide is reported to be in the millions, a number constantly on the rise. Organized criminal groups earn billions of dollars from trafficking and exploiting people – many of whom suffer severe human rights violations.

Trafficked persons are often victims of rape, torture, debt bondage, unlawful confinement and threats against their family or other people close to them.

The demand for cheap labor, sexual services and certain criminal activities are the root causes of trafficking.  IOM estimates that as many as one third of trafficked persons are minors.

IOM’S APPROACH TO COUNTER-TRAFFICKING

IOM’s primary goals are to prevent human trafficking and to protect victims from the trade, while offering them options of safe and sustainable reintegration and/or return to their home countries.

Our approach is based on three principles:

• Respect for human rights
• Physical, mental and social well-being of the individual and his or her community
• Sustainability through institutional capacity building of governments and civil society

PREVENTION

Since prevention is always better than cure, IOM works to educate the public about human trafficking, encourage people to report suspected cases, and equip vulnerable populations with the information necessary to better protect themselves from the recruitment tactics of traffickers.

DIRECT ASSISTANCE

We offer comprehensive direct assistance to victims of trafficking in collaboration with our partners. This includes safe housing, and both medical and psychosocial support. We also provide skills development and vocational training, and the options of voluntary, safe and dignified return to countries of origin, integration in the country of destination, or resettlement to third countries when needed.

The post Protecting Victims of Human Trafficking appeared first on USAIM.

The post The Pacific Islands appeared first on USAIM.

The post Crisis in Somalia appeared first on USAIM.

In November 2017, CNN reported that African migrants were sold off as slaves in Libya for the equivalent of approximately $400. Earlier in 2017, IOM, the UN Migration Agency, had sounded the alarm on the existence of “Libyan slave markets” and reported harrowing shared by African migrants in Niger and Libya.

“We were horrified to find out that migrants were exploited and enslaved in Libya. IOM took immediate measures to work with national authorities and with countries of origin to disrupt this human exploitation, assist the most vulnerable and called for the protection of all victims and migrants in Libya. Today, we are glad to see that members of the civil society are also joining these efforts and taking action to denounce and demand the end all forms of modern slavery,” said Luca Dall’Oglio, CEO of USA for IOM.

In 2017, IOM rescued over 19,000 migrants out of Libya and helped them return to their home country. Upon their arrivals, the most vulnerable migrants also received psychosocial support. Additionally, all migrants were given a “pocket money” allowance to cover their immediate needs such as transportation, clothing and housing once they arrived. In 2018, IOM is continuing its repatriation operations and is providing reintegration assistance.

“As long as migration remains under the management of smuggling and trafficking networks, we will continue to see desperate individuals being abused throughout their migration journey” said Mr Dall’Oglio. “By facilitating and encouraging alternative modalities for regular, documented and safe migration channels, we will be better equipped to address human rights violations and be more effective in combatting transnational criminal networks preying on the migrants.”

All proceeds from the anti-slavery march will be donated to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to support their efforts in assisting and protecting vulnerable migrants in Libya and other transit countries.

The march will be held on January 27 at 10:00 am PT in downtown Los Angeles. The following speakers confirmed their participation in the march:

• Sahndra Fon Dufe – Actress, Author of Yefon: The Red Necklace
• Angelique Mendes – Actress, Model, Waterkeeper Ambassador
• Bamba Bambadjan – Hollywood Actor (Black Panther), DACA activist
• Tolu Olubunmi – Social Entrepreneur and Member of USA for IOM’s Board of Directors
• Funmilola Fagbamila – Playwright, USC Professor, Activist
• Adrienne Nicole – Community Activist and Democratic Party Candidate for Congress

The post USA for IOM to Join Anti-slavery March in Los Angeles appeared first on USAIM.

The geography alone makes this one of the world’s most difficult borders to manage. But the job facing the Tajik and Afghan border agencies has become even tougher with growing insecurity in northern Afghanistan since 2014.

Better coordination between Tajik and Afghan border guards has become essential as both sides try to encourage legal cross-border business, while combating the often deadly threat posed by narcotics and human traffickers.

Against this backdrop, the UN Migration Agency, IOM, facilitated over 50 joint training courses for Tajik and Afghan border guards in Tajikistan between 2009 and 2014. However, for cultural and operational reasons, the participants were all men.

But in 2014 this changed when, with the financial support of the United States Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Agencies (INL), IOM Tajikistan delivered its first joint training course for 15 Tajik and Afghan women at Dushanbe’s Training Center for Border Guards.

The 10-day program was the first of its kind and became the basis for building trust and improving communication between the Tajik and Afghan border agencies. Both sides and IOM agreed that Afghan women attending the first course could be chaperoned by male family members – a normal practice in Afghan culture. After being assured that the women will receive training in the military unit territory where only female officers have access and will be accompanied at all time, their chaperons realized that it was unnecessary to be present.

Nadia, an officer of the Afghan Border Police, is one of the 50 Afghan women who, so far, have received a training along with 51 Tajik women. She joined the Border Police Force after her husband was killed.

“War is a misfortune and it took away my husband. War took away the only breadwinner of our family,” Nadia says. That’s when Nadia started to search for work so she could provide for her two children.

“I needed a job and searched for days. One day, I went to my neighbors’ house to get some bread for my children and their TV was on. That’s when I saw an announcement for job openings with the Border Police,” recalls Nadia.

Nadia was hired. She had no professional experience but she quickly learned the ropes and IOM’s training courses were an opportunity to take her career a step further.

“These courses allowed me to acquire new knowledge in humanitarian border management and enabled me to gain self-confidence. I was eventually promoted to a higher rank,” says Nadia.

The UN Migration Agency, IOM, has helped to develop a specialized training curriculum for female border guards in Tajik and Dari languages. Additionally, it has supported efforts by the Tajik Border Force to improve their institutional gender policies, including recruitment and retention of female staff, as well as promoting equality in the workplace.

“Female border guards are trained to develop the same capacities as their male counterparts in attentiveness, observation, and responsibility to perform border control tasks at a professional level,” says Captain Donaeva Sayora, head-of-shift at the Khujand border checkpoint. “These joint trainings with Tajiks and Afghans help considerably in improving their skills and allow us to share our learned knowledge with them.”

“Statistical data of Border Forces of Tajikistan have shown that female border guards are often better than men when it comes to detecting human trafficking cases or deescalating conflict situations at borders,” says IOM Tajikistan Chief of Mission Dragan Aleksoski. According to a joint assessment conducted by IOM and the Tajik Border Forces, female border guards are reported to have sharper skills to detect forged documents, errors in identity documents of those who are under investigation, and to identify trafficked persons.

 “The training also helps them to share mutual concerns and exchange experiences of their work combating narcotics, human trafficking and instability in border areas,” says Aleksoski.“In recent years the number of female employees in the Tajik Border Force has almost doubled, demonstrating their value in creating a stable and well-managed border,” he adds.

As part of its wider efforts to promote women’s participation in border management in the region, IOM will continue to provide training to Afghan and Tajik female border guards through 2017 and 2018. It will also continue to train male border guards from both countries.

The post The Women Who Guard Afghanistan and Tajikistan’s Borders appeared first on USAIM.