IOM in Europe and Central Asia

Over the past decade and more, IOM’s presence in Europe and Central Asia focused on assisting country missions and Sub-regional offices in their response to a myriad of migration-related challenges, including those related to conflict, poverty, pandemic and climate change. In 2023, a Ukraine support office was established in Vienna to provide intensified and focused support to the massive humanitarian operation in Ukraine. In 2024, the Regional Offices in Vienna and Brussels have merged, creating the IOM Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia based in Vienna. 

The RO gives comprehensive support to governments in refining their policies, frameworks and practical mechanisms for migration management at national and multilateral levels, and ensuring protection and assistance to migrants in need. IOM aims to bring the extensive migration management expertise of the organization closer to all its beneficiaries and the Member States it serves. 

In addition, the RO supports improvement in quality and diversification of programmatic activities at the country level, promotes regional initiatives, and facilitates better support to interstate dialogue and cooperation. RO Vienna is responsible for project review and endorsement, policy development, and for formulating regional migration strategies. This is done in partnership with governments, development partners and civil society organizations within the region. It employs technical experts in project development and thematic fields of migration management, including Migrant Assistance, Labour Migration and Human Development, Migration, Environment and Climate Change, Immigration and Border Governance, Emergency and Post Crisis, Migration Health, and it hosts the Europe Displacement Tracking Matrix team. 

It also deals with various cross-cutting issues and provides support in the field of resource management, monitoring, evaluation, media and communications. 

Our Goal

The International Organization for Migration's overall goal in ECA is to promote good migration governance, which, if achieved, supports humane and orderly migration which benefits migrants and society. 

IOM’s strategic objectives in ECA are to provide comprehensive support to States in managing migration in a coherent, humane and balanced manner; to provide effective protection and assistance to migrants; to enhance the understanding of good migration governance within the international community at large, the private sector, civil society and other partners. IOM carries out a comprehensive range of activities in ECA in pursuit of these objectives. These activities fall in the fields of policy, research, legislation and programmatic support. 

Migration Governance Framework (MiGOF) 

Migration is a complex and broad field of work. As such, there is no single convention or framework that presents a comprehensive, concise and practical approach to migration governance. IOM's MiGOF sets out a structure in which States and IOM can work together to address migration issues. The framework presents the ideal version of migration governance, to which states can aspire, and for which IOM can provide support and assistance, it offers a concise view of an ideal approach that allows a state to determine what it might need to govern migration well and in a way that fits its circumstances. 

The MiGOF is comprised of three principles and three objectives: 

• Principle 1: Good migration governance would require adherence to international standards and the fulfilment of migrants' rights 
• Principle 2: Migration and related policies are best formulated using evidence and whole of government approaches 
• Principle 3: Good migration governance relies on strong partnerships. 
• Objective 1: Good migration governance and related policy should seek to advance the socioeconomic well-being of migrants and society 
• Objective 2: Good migration governance is based on effective responses to the mobility dimensions of crises 
• Objective 3: Migration should take place in a safe, orderly and dignified manner. 

The MiGOF guides IOM's work in capacity-building, policy advisement, and in project development. The Framework is used for mapping and reporting on how IOM contributes to migration governance, with a focus on measurable and concrete results.