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XXI CENTURY
fifties
2000

As the country stabilizes in the aftermath of popular vote for independence in Timor-Leste, IOM organizes the return of about 140,000 refugees by sea, land and air.

fifties
2004

IOM implements the largest ever Out-of-Country Registration and Voting programme, enabling nearly 850,000 Afghan nationals in Pakistan and Iran to vote during the presidential election.

fifties
2011

IOM evacuates over 200,000 vulnerable African and Asian migrant workers stranded in the Middle East as un upsurge in violence following the Arab Spring leads to the fall of regimes in Egypt and Libya.

fifties
2015

The Government of Canada, IOM and its partners resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada in less than three months, as the war in Syria reaches its sixth year and displaces almost three million people.

The United Nations General Assembly adopts the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognizes migration as a core development consideration and marks the first time migration is integrated explicitly into mainstream global development policy, particularly under SDG number 10.

fifties
2018

The United Nations General Assembly endorses the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM), the first-ever UN global agreement on a common approach to international migration in all its dimensions. IOM takes on its role as coordinator and secretariat of the UN Network on Migration, which was established to support the implementation, follow-up and review of the GCM.

fifties
2001

Over a period of six months. IOM helps repatriate 25,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea who have fled from conflict fueled by the sale of blood diamonds in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

fifties
2005

IOM launches its largest ever emergency response in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand following the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

fifties
2013

IOM participates in and facilities a total of 18 regional consultative processes on migration globally to foster cooperation among member states.

fifties
2016

At IOM's Special Council in June 2016. IOM Member States endorse the move to join the United Nations. IOM and the UN sign the agreement in September.

fifties
1999-2002

IOM assists demilitarized Kosovo Liberation Army combatants to reintegrate into civilian life.

fifties
2010

In response to the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, IOM joins the international community in providing shelter and relief assistance, later expanding its mission to help fight the spread of cholera in the country.

fifties
2014

IOM launches its Missing Migrants Project to track incidents involving migrants, including refugees and asylum-seekers, who have died or gone missing in the process of migration towards an international destination.

IOM responds to the mass departures from North Africa, Syria and Afghanistan.

fifties
2017

IOM leads the interagency humanitarian response in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh to where over 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to escape violence in Myanmar.

fifties
2020-2021

In line with WHO recommendations, IOM's global workforce is mobilized across the world, drawing down on decades of experience and working with dozens of governments to plan their responses and save lives as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves into one of the most significant mobility crisis ever.

IOM History Timeline

Fifties
fifties
1950s

ICEM arranges the processing and emigration of over 406,000 refugees, displaced persons and economic migrants from Europe to overseas countries.

1951

At the initiative of Belgium and the United States an International Migration Conference is convened in Brussels, resulting in the creation of the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movements of Migrants from Europe (PICMME). PICMME soon becomes the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM).

1956/57

ICEM assummes responsibility for the resettlement of some 180,000 Hungarian refugees who had fled to Austria and Yugoslavia.

Sixties
sixties
1960

1 million migrants directly assisted by ICEM.

1964

ICEM Begins Migration for Development Programmes aimed at recruitment and placement if highly qualified migrants to developing countries in Latin America.

1968

ICEM organizes the resettlement of 40,000 Czechoslovak refugees from Austria.

Seventies
sixties
1971

ICEM starts providing resettlement assistance to Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union.

ICEM assists UNHCR in the resettlement of 130,000 refugees from Bangladesh and Nepal to Pakistan.

1972

ICEM assists in the evacuation and resettlement of Asians from Uganda.

1973

A special Resettlement Programme helps over 31,000 Chileans resettle in 50 countries.

2 million migrants directly assisted by ICEM.

1974

ICEM becomes a forum for international discussion and exchange of experience amongst governments and other organizations on migration issues.

ICEM launches Return of Talent Programme for Latin Americans residing abroad.

1975

ICEM initiates a resettlement programme for Indo-Chinese refugees and displaced persons.

Eighties
sixties
1980

ICEM's Council changes the Organization's name to the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration (ICM) in recognition of its increasing global role.

3 million migrants directly assisted by ICM.

1983

ICM extends the Migration for Development Programme to qualified nationals from African Countries.

1985

Migration for Development Programmes are extended to Asia.

4 million migrants directly assisted by ICM.

1986

One million Indo-Chinese refugees have been assisted since 1975.

1989

ICM becomes the International Organization for Migration (IOM) upon the amendment and ratification of the 1953 Constitution.

Nineties
sixties
1990

IOM repatriates migrants stranded in the Middle East following the invation of Kuwait by Iraq.

1991

IOM assists in the return of some 800,000 displaced Iraqi Kurds.

1992

IOM provides logistical support and medical assistance to the displaced populations in former Yugoslavia.

1993

After the Mozambican peace agreement, IOM organizes the return of almost 500,000 displaced persons, demobilized soldiers, and vulnerable groups amongst the internally displaced and refugees.

1994

IOM assists in the return if 1.2 million Rwandans from neighbouring countries and in the relocation of some 250,000 refugees inside former Zaire.

1995

Following the outbreak of war in Chechnya, IOM evacuates almost 50,000 vulnerable people to safety in Ingushetia and Daghestan.

1996

IOM evacuates Kurdish populations from northern Iraq.

1998

IOM provides shelter assistance to Hondurans left homeless by Hurricane Mitch.

1999

IOM organizes the Humanitarian Evacuation Programme airlifting some 80,000 kosovar refugees from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to over 30 host countries. By the second half of 1999, IOM begins returning Kosovars home.

Regions
Office type
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Asia and the Pacific
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas (The)
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic (the)
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros (the)
Congo (the)
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czechia
Democratic Republic of the Congo (the)
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic (the)
East and Horn of Africa
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Europe and Central Asia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia (the)
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Global Office in Brussels
Global Office in Washington
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
IOM Office at the United Nations
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Iraq
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic (the)
Latin America and the Caribbean
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Manila Administrative Centre
Marshall Islands (the)
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia (Federated States of)
Middle East and North Africa
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger (the)
Nigeria
North Macedonia
Norway
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Panama Administrative Centre
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines (the)
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Republic of Moldova (the)
Romania
Russian Federation (the)
Rwanda
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Subregional Office in Brussels
Subregional Office in Pretoria
Sudan (the)
Sweden
Switzerland
Syrian Arab Republic (the)
Tajikistan
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Türkiye
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
United Republic of Tanzania (the)
UNSC Resolution 1244-Administered Kosovo
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
Viet Nam
West and Central Africa
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe