Speeches and Talk
Date Publish

Marking IOM's Twenty Years in Serbia

Prime Minister Dacic,
Ministers, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour to be here with you to celebrate the 20th anniversary of IOM activities in Serbia in this beautiful Hall of the Palace of Serbia.  I would like to thank all of you for accompanying us in the festivities and discussions planned to mark these two decades of migration partnership.

This celebration coincides with another very special event.  Today, we are also celebrating the International Migrants Day, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 December 2000, to recognize the large and increasing number of migrants around the world and the importance to develop policies and human rights systems that protect the rights of the migrants and enable them to contribute economically and socially to the societies they have left behind and to those they have entered.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We live today in an era of unprecedented human mobility, with more people on the move than at any other time in recorded history. The dynamics of human mobility are not only more complex, but also they change more rapidly and reflect the growth of global population; the ageing of the population especially in the industrialized world; the increase of the youth population, especially in the developing world; and an inexorable trend of urbanization. This unprecedented growth trend is expected to continue for a few more decades before the world’s population reaches 9 billion around the year 2050. At the same time, if the number of international migrants continues to grow at the same pace, the number of international migrants could reach 405 million by 2050 – essentially doubling in the next forty years from the 215 million that we count today.

Besides demography, there are a number of other drivers behind this large-scale human mobility. These include: labour market demands; growing North–South economic and social disparities; the digital revolution; distance-shrinking technology and cheap air travel; and natural, human and slow-onset climate change disasters and environmental degradation.

Then again, today it is certain that migration is an integral part of the global economic landscape, with labour migration firmly embedded into the fabric of global economic activity. Today it is widely recognised that migrant workers make valuable contributions to their host countries by taking part in their economic production either through filling labour market shortages and/or enhancing their innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities, as well as to their home countries through the transfer of financial, social and human capital. The annual remittances sent back home globally comprising on average more than 400 billion US dollars.

As a result of all this, States realise more and more the importance that migration has in their political, social, economic and development agendas and focus more in addressing the challenges that they face in managing migration in a humane and orderly way that:

  • On the one hand, acknowledges and respects national sovereignty with regard to population movements and the expectation that migrants will respect the host country’s culture and laws; and
  • On the other hand, facilitates human mobility – one of the humankind’s oldest “poverty reduction strategy” – and respects the rights and fundamental freedoms of migrants. 

States also recognise that such a workable compromise is best accomplished through dialogue and ensuing partnerships between and among States of origin, transit and destination and have looked at a forum where they can discuss these issues in a multilateral way.

Since its creation in 1961 as the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe (PICMME) as a European centred and very operational Organization with a dozen or so Member States, IOM has evolved, particularly in the last fifteen years, into a truly universal migration Organization with 149 Member States and 12 Observer States; presence in more than 450 locations around the globe; over 8,500 staff and an annual budget of around 1.3 billion US dollars.

The growth of IOM Membership, its activities and its global footprint reflects the importance that migration has for States today as well as the recognition that the Organization offers to its Member States an appropriate space for this multilateral dialogue. 

Here in Serbia, IOM has enjoyed at the national level over the past 20 years – and continues to enjoy – an excellent relationship with the Government and people of Serbia. The IOM Mission in Belgrade was established in 1992, as part of the United Nations Interagency framework of assistance to those displaced by the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. We are proud to count within our missions worldwide 64 dedicated Serbian women and men and 24 Serbian nationals in IOM Serbia Mission. Serbia joined IOM as a Member State in 2001 and Prime Minister Dacic has attended the IOM Council on two occasions.

Similarly, IOM’s activities in Serbia have evolved throughout these 20 years of relationship. Our first programme activity in Serbia, within the UN durable solutions scenario – US Resettlement Programme, helped some 26,000 individuals to re-start their lives in the United States.  Another 26,000 individuals accepted for resettlement by Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and New Zealand received medical examinations, cultural orientation, arranged transportation and secured travel documents from IOM.

Over the years, following the needs and priorities of the Government of Serbia, IOM’s activities have broadened in Serbia to include post-emergency support programmes, counter-trafficking, assisted voluntary return, compensation programmes, durable solutions for refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), capacity building in migration management, and migration and development.

Today Serbia, as the majority of its neighbours, faces all forms of migration: external and internal, forced and voluntary, regular and irregular, migration of highly qualified and unqualified workers, immigration and emigration. This poses a number of different but clearly linked challenges to the modern management of migration.

According to the UNHCR, Serbia now hosts one of the largest populations of displaced people in Europe with around 70,000 refugees and 210,000 Internally Displaced Persons from Kosovo. This population, coupled with the Serbian returnees arriving under the readmission agreements with the EU countries, have burdened the integration capacities of the social and economic systems in the Republic of Serbia. On the other hand, Serbia is also a rather attractive destination for citizens of neighbouring countries as well as for citizens of Africa and Asia. With the growing proximity of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union and the strengthening of its economy, a larger number of immigrants may be expected in the future.

Furthermore, there is a large amount of persons of Serbian origin that live abroad. It is estimated that the Serbian Diaspora contains between 2.5 and 4.5 million people, including the second and third generation of migrants of Serbian origin with limited ties to their ''homeland''. The inclusion of the Diaspora in stimulating the economic development of the Republic of Serbia - through productive investment or the transfer of knowledge and skills - is a challenge that will require considerable efforts in the future.

Being a country of origin, transit, and destination, Serbia is also affected by human trafficking. In partnership with both the Government of Serbia and the civil society, IOM Belgrade established victim assistance programmes back in 2000 and has assisted thus far some 600 victims of trafficking, of whom every second was a child.  Today we are proud that the country is committed to adopt a new counter trafficking strategy, following our recommendations, to respond even better to the challenges touching some of the most vulnerable in our societies. 

In addition, the Serbian population is ageing, with an average age of 42.2 years, which places the Republic of Serbia among the five countries with the oldest population in the world. There is also a growing interest among young people not only for moving from smaller to larger environments but also to other countries for the purpose of education, cultural exchange, international cooperation, as well as for a permanent change of residence.

In close partnership and coordination with the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia and Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, IOM Serbia has supported the Government efforts in addressing these and other migration challenges. With the steps taken and the normative framework adopted, the Republic of Serbia has proved its readiness to address these challenges in a comprehensive manner through respecting European standards and the expanded application of the EU acquis in the field of migration.

Let me mention some of the most recent achievements of our partnership.  First of all, the Migration Profile. An instrument aimed to gather information and data on migration and development and to allow the formulation of adequate national policies.  IOM started drafting migration profiles in South East Europe in 2008 upon recommendations of the European Commission. The IOM Mission in Serbia produced a Migration Profile for Serbia in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the Migration Profile was already produced by the Government of Serbia, with IOM support, while the last Migration Profile for 2011 was developed exclusively by the Serbian Government. Today though the Government of Serbia not only has the data and information available, but also the capacity to develop the information.

Other achievements worth mentioning are the Migration Management Strategy that was adopted in 2009 which resulted from the roadmap that IOM Serbia developed in cooperation with the Government institutions, as well as the Law on Migration Management recently adopted, in November 2012.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our donors: the European Union Delegation, as well as the Governments of USA, Canada, Australia, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Italy, Finland, UK, Japan, Sweden, Check Republic, Denmark and Slovenia for supporting IOM in all our initiatives. I also would like to thank the UN Country Team for our on-going effective cooperation in joint programmes and initiatives. Finally, a special thanks to local authorities and national and local non-governmental organizations with whom we have collaborated extremely well at the field level in direct programmes with beneficiaries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have tried to underline the challenges that the Government of Serbia, amongst other Governments, will be facing in the future in its efforts to manage migration in a humane and orderly way that benefits all actors involved - countries of destination, countries of origin and the migrants themselves - and protects the rights of migrants. The partnership that IOM and the Government of Serbia have enjoyed for the last 20 years and that we are celebrating here today shows that together we can find appropriate solutions to those challenges and adapt ourselves to new ones.  Let’s continue this path together!