International migration is at the core of the international debate. However, while a major part of the discussions focus on migration policies in receiving countries, it is important to recall that most people are not willing to migrate permanently to another country. It is thus crucial that policymakers also support those who prefer to remain in their communities of origin to resist the migration pressure they may be facing. Consequently, this analysis aims first to identify what drives this migration pressure, and second to formulate a set of recommendations to support those communities. With regard to the drivers, evidence suggests that, contrary to a common belief, poverty reduction will not necessarily alleviate migration pressure. Reducing poverty is an aim, per se, no matter its effect on migration. However, it is not a panacea, and other factors explaining the migration pressure should be considered. The urge to move can be due to the fact that potential migrants, in particular those willing to migrate illegally, tend to formulate biased expectations about their earnings and living conditions abroad. For people who have not moved yet, expectations from the migration experience are often based upon perceptions of the living conditions of their families and relatives who migrated. Those relatives – through their remittances and the status their families that are left behind acquire within the communities – can lead some to think that success is guaranteed with migration. This in turn can spark the desire to move at any cost, raising the issue of relative concerns about what matters in the decision to leave. Another possible driver of migration pressure is negative shocks, such as adverse climatic conditions. Climatic factors and natural disasters can lead to more migration if other survival strategies have failed, when the severity of the shocks does not leave any other option than moving, and when people can afford migration costs.

The manual was prepared with the aim to inform the secondary school teachers and students about human trafficking and exploitation. This third edition was updated by IOM taking into account the changes in the legal and institutional frameworks to combat human trafficking in the Republic of Armenia. The manual incorporates three parts: theory studies that will enable an effective use of teaching materials on trafficking; eight lessons of the basic course on human trafficking and exploitation; modern strategies and techniques used in education to initiate a constructive and interactive teaching, discussion and assessment of human trafficking issues.

Over the past years, public attention has gradually turned to the experiences of migrants along the precarious Mediterranean routes to Europe. A large number of migrants continue to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea on the way to Europe, often enduring long and perilous journeys. A growing body of evidence is beginning to highlight the scale and scope of exploitation experienced by migrants along these routes, including human trafficking. This report examines migrants’ vulnerability to human trafficking and exploitation by exploring risk and protective factors associated with unsafe migration, through the systematic evidence collected by IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) operations in 2016. It presents the results from the largest existing set of survey data on the vulnerability of migrants to abuse, exploitation and human trafficking on the Mediterranean routes to Europe.

Global assessments suggest that a substantial proportion of labour migrants ends up in situations of extreme exploitation, some of whom are identified as victims of human trafficking. Because large numbers of migrant workers fall into a “grey area” between trafficking (as defined by international and national law) and exploitative labour situations, there is good reason to explore the differences and similarities between the health needs of those who have been identified as trafficked compared to other migrants working in the same labour sector who have not. It is urgent to understand present-day occupational health and safety risks, forms of abuse and exploitation in different sectors and common hazardous working and living conditions to improve prevention and response strategies. This is among the first studies to explore and compare the influence of occupational and other risk exposures on people’s health and well-being and compare the experiences of migrant workers and victims of trafficking across sectors and regions. Our multiregion qualitative study on exploitation and harm experienced by individuals in the textile sector in Argentina, and artisanal gold-mining in Peru and construction sector in Kazakhstan, found important commonalities in the health hazards and financial, social and legal challenges across sectors and regions. In total, we interviewed 71 people; of these, 18 were formally identified victims of trafficking and 53 were migrant workers.

The brochure contains messages on the risks of human trafficking and promotes safe migration behaviour. It also contains contact information of relevant State Agencies in the referral mechanism for the prevention of trafficking as well as assistance to trafficked persons, including the national counter-trafficking hotline numbers and relevant web portals.

The Republic of Uganda Border and Migration Management Assessment was carried out in 2014 in order to give an overview of the migration management structure of the country. This publication allows the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control of Uganda and other stakeholders to properly identify development needs and requirements. The assessment focuses on the following key areas of border and migration management: (a) administration; (b) migration regulatory environment; (c) border operations and policies; and (d) information technology management. It gives 38 specific recommendations for the short, medium and long term on how to improve border and migration management in Uganda.

This Guidance Note provides guidance for the mandatory mainstreaming of humanitarian protection principles into IOM’s response to crises. This note is intended to help every IOM staff involved in crisis response to apply these standards in performance of their functions when assessing, designing, developing, endorsing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the following: a) IOM responses to crises and b) projects falling under one or more of the MCOF sectors of assistance. In case an IOM staff member needs to deviate from this Guidance Note, the staff member or Chief of Mission concerned must contact the Department of Operations and Emergencies. It is mandatory for IOM staff members and specifically for Chiefs of Missions to ensure adherence to this guidance note and to follow up with the Department.

Although there is consensus among different actors regarding the seriousness and significance of re-trafficking as a problem, there has been very little research conducted into its incidence, cause or consequence. This research paper, funded by United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking (G/TIP), aims to address this gap through an exploratory analysis of known re-trafficking cases in the Human Trafficking Database of the International Organization for Migration. It is a rare look at the issue of re-trafficking, drawing upon a regional sample of 79 known cases of re-trafficking in the database. The report examines a number of factors a means to better understand and tackle the issue of re-trafficking. These include the individual characteristics of (re-)trafficking victims, their experiences during and post-exit from trafficking, issues on return to their country of origin, and assistance and reintegration needs. The report findings reveal that many existing reintegration programmes for victims of trafficking are not effectively tackling the economic realities faced by victims post-rescue. Assistance options should be better tailored to address the complex needs of trafficked persons if re-trafficking is to be avoided. The report offers a number of recommendations, concluding that only by finding sustainable ways to challenge the wider economic inequalities, both global and local, can counter-trafficking efforts be truly effective.

The Coronavirus pandemic is dramatically impacting all aspects of the work being carried out by the United Nations. The purpose of this paper is to outline a number of policy and operational implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). This analysis by the Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict is based on ongoing consultations with field practitioners, including Women Protection Advisers in United Nations peace operations, UN country offices, and civil society partners. It also reflects a number of issues of concern that have been raised by UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, the network of 15 United Nations entities chaired by the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Although empirical evidence related to the linkages between COVID-19 and the prevalence of CRSV and impact on multisectoral service provision is still scarce, in the short-term a broader body of related literature can provide an evidence-informed understanding of linkages between infectious disease epidemics and violence against women and children, including sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings. This analysis is intended to inform policy and programme responses to mitigate the risk of increased sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings as part of pandemic preparedness, as well as during and in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Although human trafficking has gathered momentum and several international organizations have developed approaches to address it, the phenomenon remains a serious crime, with grave human rights concerns, that is largely overlooked in crisis situations. In addition, human trafficking is typically not considered a direct consequence of crisis. This misplaced assumption, coupled with the fact that counter-trafficking efforts are not necessarily understood as an immediate life-saver in crisis, often hampers the humanitarian response to human trafficking cases, particularly in terms of identification of and assistance to victims. In reality, as the newly published IOM report Addressing Human Trafficking and Exploitation in Times of Crisis reveals these efforts are a matter of life and livelihood for victims of trafficking and should therefore be considered with as much priority as for any other crisis-affected population and be addressed at the outset of a crisis. The report recommends that human trafficking in times of crisis be urgently included in the humanitarian community, with support from both emergency and development donor communities.