Assisted Voluntary Returns. In the past 10 years, war and political instability has caused millions of Iraqis to emigrate. IOM has been providing assistance to returning Iraqi migrants for over ten years.

The IOM-Iraq Mission was set up in January 2003 in response to the overwhelming humanitarian need following the collapse of the former regime. It was clear from the start that it had a challenging time ahead of it. Working in a wide range of areas, across every governorate in Iraq, IOM staff quickly made an impact, despite the increasingly chaotic situation. In August 2003, following the bombing of the canal hotel, IOM's programme coordination was transferred to Jordan and Kuwait, with national staff members and NGO partners remaining inside Iraq.

Despite this less than ideal situation, IOM has continued to work effectively in Iraq. As of December 2007, it has channeled more than 219 million dollars into projects which assist the displaced, the unemployed, the dispossessed, the vulnerable, the stranded and the sick. In addition to these broad areas of assistance, it also provides capacity-building and technical assistance to various Iraqi Ministries, government departments and commissions, such as the Iraq Property Claims Commission, which has greatly increased their capacity and impact on the ground. To view a leaflet of our programmes in brief please click here.

IOM maintains valued partnerships and close coordination with local Iraqi authorities and various Ministries. IOM, though not formally part of the United Nations, is a member of the UN Country Team (UNCT) for Iraq, and works closely with the UN system and the Iraq authorities in support of the Iraqi National Development Strategy. IOM is integrated into all sector outcome teams of the new UNCT Coordination Structure replacing the previous cluster system under the policy groups of Essential Social Services, Protection, Governance and Economic Development.