Cash-strapped IOM looks for partnership

William Lacy Swing

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is seeking partnership with employer companies and labour-exporting countries to help migrants return from politically troubled Arab and African nations.
“It has to be a partnership that should be much of burden-sharing. And that's where probably the answer lies,” said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.
He said he had no clear-cut idea about the reintegration of migrants who have returned home empty-handed.
IOM top officials attended the April 18-22 consultation of Colombo Process in Bangladesh that discussed the problems migrants face and ways to solve those.
On the sidelines of the event, Swing talked to The Daily Star focusing on the recent crisis in Arab nations, its effect on migrant workers and the imperatives for the global community.
IOM has already evacuated 120,000 migrants, including around 28,000 Bangladeshis, from Libya alone since March. Over 7,000 were brought home by Bangladesh Biman and employer companies.
“For IOM, it took about $ 70 million. That does not include the in-kind assistance of aircraft and air crew, which would probably double the figure,” said Swing, adding that these operations are the largest migrant evacuation exercise since the first Gulf War 20 years ago.
The organisation is still evacuating thousands of migrants from Misrata, Libya. Since the crisis began, around 5.5 lakh out of an estimated total of 2 million migrants fled the country. Around 25,000 Bangladeshis are still there while around 1,000 of them are in two bordering points of Egypt and Tunisia awaiting repatriation.
Citing that evacuation process is absolutely expensive and that IOM has to seek out for fund almost every week, Swing said in-kind assistance like use of Bangladesh Biman aircrafts will be a great help.
He said IOM is looking for new donor countries and discussing ways to reduce the repatriation cost. It takes $ 1,260 for IOM to repatriate one migrant from Egypt and Tunisia to Bangladesh.
Swing said IOM is urging employer companies to contribute to repatriation operations.
“My concern is that we are not being able to do three to four different evacuation operations at the same time. Because then we will be probably having shortage of the amount we need,” he said.
The United Nations could make use of its presence in Tripoli and operate humanitarian assistance, he continued, adding that once the migrants are out of the country, IOM can help with repatriation.
Swing appreciated Bangladesh's announcement of Tk 50,000 for each of some 35,000 returnees. He, however, said that it would help them for the first few months.
"But what is next? Do they get local employment or when the situation in Libya stabilises would they return to work there or they get jobs elsewhere? These questions have no answers right now," he said.
Swing said the government can count on IOM in supporting and assisting the programmes they come up with in terms of redeployment abroad or other programmes.
"I cannot find anything beyond that now because we don't know what the government's overall plans are," he said.