Permanent Mission of India

Geneva

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International Organization for Migration (IOM)

16th Session of the Standing Committee on Programmes and Finance (SCPF)

(2-3 July 2015)

Statement of India

Mr. Chairperson,

1.  At the outset, my delegation wishes to place on record our sincere appreciation to the distinguished Chair for successfully steering the proceedings of the meeting of the 16th Session of the Standing Committee on Programmes and Finance and the IOM Secretariat for detailed documentation for this meeting.

2.  The Standing Committee meeting takes place at a critical juncture where the world is facing unprecedented humanitarian challenges spread across various geographies.  In this regard, we deeply appreciate the efforts made by IOM to address these issues within its mandate and the leadership shown in the fields of its operation.  IOM’s efforts in ensuring continuity, coherence to strengthen the organisation’s role during crisis situation is commendable.

3.  In order to further strengthen operational capability and efficiency, we urge IOM to deepen its partnership with regional economic communities, civil society organizations, public-private entities among other important stakeholders.

4.  Among various initiatives taken by IOM, we particularly support the initiatives on reducing remittance and recruitment costs for migrants, counter-smuggling and saving lives.  We feel that IOM’s role in migrant health partnership, immigration and visa support solutions, ethical international recruitment and border management capacity building needs to be further strengthened.

5.  Meanwhile, we urge IOM to pay higher attention and devote more resources towards emergency situations, post crisis migration management, and regulating migration which forms its core operational objectives.

6.  We are happy to note that IOM is working to enhance the capacities of policy makers to address challenges and opportunities related to human mobility.  We may like to suggest IOM that while recommending and implementing new policies and programmes, IOM should conceptualize and develop its programme based on local requirement and situations along with maximum use of local resources.  It should be kept in mind that no single programme is capable of catering to the needs of all.  Therefore, there is an urgent need to pay higher attention to this aspect.

7.  Under IOM’s initiative for good migration governance, we support humane and orderly migration with obligation for States to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of individuals within its territory and practice non-discriminatory approach to preserve safety, physical integrity and dignity of the migrants.

Mr. Chairperson,

8.  We recommend IOM to embark on the path of assessing and reporting its programmes and activities, on quantifiable parameters, based on the Principles of Outcome Based Assessment.  This will provide valuable insight to the member states on the real contribution of IOM in the fields of its operation and also provide necessary inputs to further improve upon and develop efficient programmes and models of operation.

I thank you Mr. Chairperson.

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