IOM Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa

IOM’s Regional Office in Egypt was established in 1991 to assist third-country nationals forcefully displaced by the Gulf War (through voluntary repatriation, or resettlement in third countries). Since Egypt became an IOM Member State in 1990, cooperation between IOM and the Egyptian Government has grown manifold. Throughout this period, IOM’s network of Government and civil society partners in region grew considerably. Today, IOM’s Regional Office in Egypt continues to successfully implement activities in a variety of programmatic areas.

IOM’s Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provides policy, technical and administrative support to IOM’s offices in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Globalization, conflict and instability, development differentials and – increasingly – climate change are amongst the multitude of factors which continue to influence the dynamics of human mobility in the region. While considerable Government initiative has been taken in this field, there are a number of emerging challenges to address. IOM therefore continues to support Government responses at the national level, as well as facilitate dialogue and information exchange between major origin, transit and destination countries – building a valuable foundation for further initiative.

IOM Country Office for Egypt

Egypt became an IOM Member State in 1990. In 1991, IOM opened its Country Office for Egypt in Cairo to assist third-country nationals forcefully displaced by the Gulf War (through voluntary repatriation, or resettlement in third countries). Since then, IOM has established excellent working relations with central and local authorities, as well as civil society and UN partners and extended its field of activities alongside a large and diverse project portfolio.

The IOM Country Office in Cairo is responsible for the programming, implementation and coordination of all IOM activities in Egypt. The Program Coordination Unit coordinates all projects and programmes and further develops IOM’s portfolio for Egypt. The IOM Country Office in Egypt currently implements projects in the following 5 thematic areas:

• Movements, Emergency and Post-crisis Migration Management
• Regulating Migration
• Migration Health
• Labour Migration
• Migration and Development

More information on IOM's activities in the region and in the country is available at www.egypt.iom.int.

Last updated:
Main text: October 2015
Facts and figures: August 2014