The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has taken a seeming bold step against unethical recruitment practices and gaps in the governance of labour migration that are said to be leading risks facing migrant workers in the global economy. Fee-charging to workers, fraud during the hiring process, the confiscation of personal documents: these are all-too-common abuses that migrants encounter during the hiring process. For the United Nations migration agency, there is no better time than now to address these challenges. To this end, IOM and H&M Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation and mutual assistance in relation…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Ninety-three returning migrants who are interested in setting up small-scale businesses as well as mentorship and job placement opportunities are currently being trained in Nigeria by the United Nations migration agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The training consists of hands-on sessions on how to build participants’ online presence and improve their search campaigns, job-seeking skills online. Since Thursday, December 5, the UN agency has been partnering with Google Nigeria to conduct IOM’s first Digital Skills Training for returnees and potential migrants in Benin City, the Edo State capital and in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital. Owegie, a trainee said, “I…
Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Guy Ryder, has called on African countries to seize the opportunities that exist on the continent to advance towards a human-centred future of work.He was speaking at the opening of the ILO’s 14th African Regional Meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, which brought together the ILO’s tripartite constituents representing governments, workers and employers from 54 African countries. They met to review the progress made in implementing the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda and charting a course towards a future with decent work in the region.Ryder referred to projections for economic growth in Africa that are higher than the global…
The government of Bangladesh is allegedly blocking aid groups from providing any meaningful education to Rohingya children in refugee camps and banning the children from attending schools outside the camps, Human Rights Watch said in a report. The rights group, therefore, wants the government to urgently lift the restrictions that unlawfully deprive almost 400,000 Rohingya refugee children of their right to education. The 81-page report, “‘Are We Not Human?’: Denial of Education for Rohingya Refugee Children in Bangladesh,” documents how Bangladesh prohibits aid groups in the refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar district from providing Rohingya children with accredited or formal education. There is…
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global organization of parliaments has said that strong institutions require international collaboration and widespread political support. IPU made this known on its website while pointing out that it has been contributing to the discussions on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly Goal 16 which recognizes the importance of strong institutions As the twenty-first century got underway, the world faced a formidable set of issues, including climate change, terrorism, and growing inequality. But global leaders began to rise to the challenge when they agreed on a set of goals, the Millennium Development Goals, and their successors, the…
Iraq and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) have sealed the first Iraq Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP), as the country recovers from decades of conflict. The Programme will run from this 2019 through 2023. DWCP supports national initiatives to promote decent work and strengthen Iraq’s capacity to mainstream decent work in social and economic policies. It will be implemented through close partnerships between the ILO and employers’ and workers’ representatives in the country.The agreement was signed on December 5 by ILO Regional Director for Arab States Ruba Jaradat, Director General of Labour and Vocational Training Department of the Ministry of Labor…
Côte d’Ivoire does not appear to be relenting with her economic reform drive which aims at making the country a more attractive destination to do business. The West African country is pushing ahead with reforms to boost Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which has been on the rise since 2012 but remains low in relative and absolute terms compared to other countries in the region. Also, FDI is highly concentrated in Abidjan and significant economic and social inequalities exist both between urban and rural areas and between the economic capital and the rest of the country. Chief of the United Nations…
Deputy Chief of Staff of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Vincent Houver, has said that persons with disabilities are amongst the most marginalized groups in conflict and emergency contexts around the world. According to him, their unique protection concerns make them more vulnerable to abuse and during disasters, their mortality rate is higher than the average affected population. Globally, persons with disabilities are estimated to represent 15 percent of the world’s population, but in many humanitarian situations, this percentage can be significantly higher. In Syria, for instance, the United Nations estimates that 27 percent of the population has a disability. For Houver, ‘’these quantitative trends on persons with disabilities are…
The lives of the largely forgotten hundreds of thousands of people affected by the conflict in eastern Ukraine are at risk once again as temperatures have started plummeting in the area. In government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in settlements close to the contact line separating two conflicting sides, 70,000 people are effectively marooned. Over 40 percent of them are elderly, and 13 percent of the families residing in these areas have a member with a disability. Take 82-year-old Vira Semenivna. She, her son Ivan and great-grandson Yaroslav live in a village 70 kilometers from Donetsk. Yaroslav’s parents left…
To help the Iraqi government develop programmes that support the needs of migrants with disabilities, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in the country has launched its first countrywide disability inclusion strategy. The two-year strategy will also guide the IOM Mission in supporting the government of Iraq with data collection and policy design that are inclusive of persons with disabilities. “This document is an essential supplement to IOM Iraq’s strategic priorities”, said Chief of Mission Gerard Waite, adding, “it will guide us as we improve our programming approach to support the government in addressing the needs of Iraqis, including migrants…
Many towns in South Sudan are completely submerged as flash floods displace thousands of citizens from their homes, around one million others drastically affected. This follows unprecedented rainfall in the troubled country that has seen their livelihoods destroyed. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and partners are ramping up their humanitarian response to affected communities in counties declared to be in a “state of emergency” by the government of South Sudan. IOM South Sudan Chief of Mission, Jean-Philippe Chauzy said,“the level of destruction caused by the floods is unfathomable. People have nowhere to sleep, children are sick, there is no food to eat.” Many people…
Chifundo Tindo was facing rejection when she began dating. Tindo lived with HIV for years before learning, at age 14, about her status. According to her, the stigma attached to HIV can derail the health and safety of young people living with the virus, adding that they may find themselves rejected by their peers, loved ones, community members or even health providers. It had been a closely guarded secret since she was a child, even as her sister made sure she took her antiretroviral (ARV) medication. “I asked her, ‘Why am I taking these drugs?’ She told me, I don’t…
A new survey by the United Nations migration agency in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine has revealed that high levels of knowledge about human trafficking do not translate into lower vulnerability. The survey was presented in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv this December during the International Day for Abolition of Slavery. It revealed that while 86 per cent of Ukrainians are aware of human trafficking, 13 per cent would cross the border irregularly, work without official employment status, in exploitive conditions without freedom of movement, or hand over their passport to an employer. The figures were 81 per cent and 24 per cent in Georgia,…
President of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Gabriela Cuevas, has said that over 70 million people are displaced globally due to conflict and natural disasters. Behind these numbers, according to her, are human beings who have been forced to leave their homes and find themselves in situations of extreme vulnerability. “We, as representatives of the people, are uniquely placed to listen to the people we represent and to ensure that all voices are heard and taken into account- including those of refugees and stateless persons”, she said at a conference hosted by the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). For IPU Secretary General, Martin Chungong, “parliamentarians…
A global organisation of Parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has published a comprehensive set of guidelines to combat sexual harassment and violence against women in parliament. It was on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The guidelines offer advice and practical information for parliamentarians and parliamentary staff on how to transform parliaments into gender-sensitive environments free from sexism and abuse. They also contain numerous examples of good practice from parliaments around the world. The Guidelines for the Elimination of Sexism, Harassment and Violence against Women in Parliament follow the IPU’s groundbreaking research in…
Borderline, a project of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) that is being implemented in six border districts of Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia is helping the women overcome these challenges. Women engaging in informal cross-border trade often lack access to information on trade rules and customs procedures and suffer from weak entrepreneurial capacity. As a result, they use informal crossing paths that may expose them to violence, harassment, bribes, high fines and confiscation of their merchandise if caught by border authorities. Their businesses remain a subsistence activity, leaving them unable to transition to profitable and sustainable ones.…
There are growing concerns around the world as the rights of people with disabilities are still being undermined both by discrimination and lack of accessible reproductive health services. This came to light last Tuesday which was marked as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It was a day to set aside to recognize the unmet needs of this segment of the global population. Those who know better say without the information they need, they are often unable to navigate sex and relationships safely, leaving them highly vulnerable to gender-based violence. In fact, some women with disabilities are said to…
To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women last November 25, a Nigerian woman, Adaora, was one of 40 women who participated in a 100 percent female slam poetry workshop organized by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the local collective Plumes du Sahel in Niger. Adaora who is staying at IOM’s transit center in Niamey said, ‘’this training has been both a challenge and a relief. It’s inspiring to see women who have been through worse things than I have, opening up and talking about their experiences. Abuse makes you feel very alone, but if we speak…
Data from Mali by the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) tend to show only 1.4 midwives for every 10,000 inhabitants. According to the source, in 2016 there were 2,657 midwives and obstetric nurses in the entire country. That ratio falls well below the standard of 23 doctors, nurses or midwives per 10,000 people recommended by the World Health Organisation. In Mali, these services are particularly urgent because of the high number of vulnerable mothers and babies. According to a 2018 demographic survey, some 36 percent of adolescent girls in Mali had already begun childbearing. Pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among adolescent…
A gynaecologist in northwest South Sudan, Dr Joseph Johnson, has said that the country is awash with horrific rape cases. “While I was in the office, they brought me a survivor. They told me she was raped by her own boyfriend”, he recently recalled. Johnson told the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) that the woman had been brutally beaten and required urgent medical attention. “It was serious. Her life was now in danger. We needed to do an urgent operation”, he said, pointing out that cases like this one are horrific – and are all too common. Violence against women…
Gender-based violence is still very rampant, data collected by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) this 2019 have shown. It occurs everywhere – homes, schools, marketplaces, streets – and has come to define how young girls perceive and interact with their communities. A Syrian adolescent from Qamishli, Amal (not real name) said “growing up, I felt as though my wings were slowly clipped against my will, and life became a cage from which there was no escape. An entire world waited outside where women were becoming leaders, scientists, engineers, but I was trapped in a different world where being a girl…
A new International Labour Organisation (ILO) report says more than $500 billion a year needs to be invested if countries are to meet a basic set of social protection measures known as a Social Protection Floor by 2030.According to the report, Measuring financing gaps in social protection for achieving SDG target 1.3: Global estimates and strategies for developing countries, spending on coverage needs to increase dramatically to achieve universal coverage of a basic set of social protection measures.This would include: Cash transfers to children, Maternity benefits for mothers with newborns, Disability benefits, and Old-age social pensions Based on research carried out in…
Going by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Digital Economy Report 2019, seven super platforms – Microsoft, followed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent and Alibaba − account for two-thirds of the total market value of the top 70 digital platforms. The report also highlights that just two countries, the United States and China, account for up to 90% of the market capitalization value of the world’s 70 largest digital platform companies. The first Istanbul Competition Forum heard in November that as economies become more digital, keeping them competitive and fair requires stronger government cooperation. The forum gathered more than…
The recent fall in commodity prices has slowed Bolivia’s racing economic growth from a peak of 6.8% in 2013 to about 4.0% in 2019. This vulnerability to fluctuations in commodity prices is replicated in another landlocked country, Botswana, which is heavily dependent on the mineral sector. On average, the sector has contributed to more than 22% of Botswana’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in recent decades, diamonds being the leading mineral. However, the landlocked Bolivia made impressive economic gains in recent years. Its GDP grew at an average annual rate of 4.9% from 2004 to 2014, one of the best…
Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Mukhisa Kituyi, says boosting the digital economy in developing countries will require a new way of thinking, including from entrepreneurs. This is as the transformative power of the digital economy is real and impactful. Without the doubt, improving their fortunes requires a mindset change. Going by emerging projections, in 2035, one third of the global workforce will be in Africa. Today, about 85% of people on the continent are working in the informal sector. According to Kituyi, while many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries have yet…
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an agency of the United Nations has launched its mobile cinema caravan CinemArena which will tour across West Africa for five months highlighting the risks of irregular migration. The caravan has started its regional tour in Tambacounda, Southern Senegal, one of the main source regions for irregular migration. It aims to inform Senegalese youth about the risks of irregular migration by bringing outdoor cinema events to more than 25 villages, reaching at least 8,000 people through December 22. The activities include screenings of awareness-raising films on irregular migration, followed by workshops, Q&A sessions, theatre performances and other…
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has launched its fourth month-long film caravan in Niger, a development that is fast becoming a popular annual event in the African country. The migration agency of the United Nations started the show with the screening of the feature Issalam Taret: Any News from the Road? in the Talladjé neighbourhood in the capital, Niamey. This and at least 10 more screenings are being conducted under its Global Migration Film Festival (GMFF), a tradition launched in Geneva in 2016. For the GMFF’s fourth year, a film caravan will travel throughout the country for one month, coursing over nearly to 3,000 kilometres,…
It appears it is no longer business as usual for companies as far as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is on the front burner of the world today. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is busy empowering them to better report their contributions to the SDGs and showcase how they are making the world a better place. It’s guidance on core indicators on entity reporting on contribution to SDG implementation is a useful tool that provides practical information on how companies can report data on their contributions to the SDGs. The tool also seeks to assist governments…
Paraguay and the migration agency of the United Nations have sealed a fresh deal for the implementation of a project that seeks to improve the production, management and use of information to improve migration management through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). By their Spanish acronyms, the General Directorate of Migration (DGM), the Ministry of Interior (MDI) of Paraguay, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) signed the new agreement. With the agreement, there will be continuity in joint projects that have been carried out since 2015, when Paraguay put in place the IOM Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS).…
Experts at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Twelfth International Debt Management Conference, held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, said many developing countries are reeling under mounting debt. The conference which held from November 18-20 came as the world is addicted to debt, which has ballooned to unprecedented levels in both developed and developing countries. The Finance Minister of Namibia, Carl Schlettwein, said during his keynote speech that an unhealthy dependence on debt for economic growth is threatening these countries’ progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to him, “the high levels of indebtedness inevitably…
