15 April 2021, Cairo –The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Office launched today its 2020-2024 Regional Strategy, with an online event including panelists from governments, the League of Arab States, UN agencies, regional institutions, academics and other stakeholders in the region. 

Guided by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and Agenda 2063 of the African Union Commission (AUC), this strategy aims to prioritize three key pillars – resilience, mobility and governance – for 2020 to 2024, in line with the implementation of IOM’s 2019-2023 Strategic Vision.  

The 2020-2024 Regional MENA Strategy reflects how the organization will navigate years to effectively address the growing complex challenges and uncertainties in the fields of migration, mobility and humanitarian aid and to seize the opportunities that migration can offer to both migrants and society.  

“The strategic pillars reflect the reality that it is no longer possible to work through strictly defined programmatic areas, but rather through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to manage migration in a way that recognizes its transnational, transboundary and multi-dimensional nature,” said IOM Director General, Mr. Antònio Vitorino, in his opening remarks.  

“This strategy is based on IOM’s institutional approach to Migration and Sustainable Development which comprehensively integrate migration and development into policymaking and programming within IOM,” said IOM MENA Regional Director Carmela Godeau." IOM MENA strategy seeks to bring greater coherence and development impact to IOM’s activities.”   

The strategy was formulated in accordance with regional priorities and Member States’ efforts to enhance migration governance and always protect vulnerable populations. IOM aspires to further support governments in national priorities and regional and international commitments to allow migrants, displaced populations, and host communities to exercise their rights.  

The first GCM Regional Review in the Arab Region, held in February 2021, shed light on the cruciality of managing migration through a 360-degree approach to “Build back better” together. Many stakeholders and actors across the region are now showing a growing enthusiasm to integrate this holistic approach into the ways in which they plan, deliver and operate. 

While IOM remains committed to ensuring that migration is safe, orderly and regular, this regional strategy will be reviewed periodically to ensure that the ongoing and emerging impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and other significant regional and global developments are being addressed effectively.  

The 2020-2024 MENA Regional Strategy is now available in AR/EN/FR. 

For more information, please contact:  Mohammedali Abunajela, at IOM Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, mmabunajela@iom.int