Highlights
IOM is organizing the first workshop on search and rescue in the Mediterranean on 14 – 15 December in San Remo, Italy.
In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, another 12 IOM data entry clerks are now supporting the registration process in the reception centre in Gevgelija.
In Serbia, an additional IOM mobile team is assisting the Border Police with registration activities at the Presevo centre.
In Lampedusa, Sicily, Calabria and Apulia, IOM teams are composed of field officers and interpreter/cultural mediators.
They meet migrants and asylumseekers at landing points and in reception centres, and offer them legal counselling and assistance.On 4 November, the Hellenic Asylum Service in close cooperation with IOM, organized the first pilot relocation services for two Iraqi families and four Syrian families (totaling 30 people) departing for Luxembourg, as part of the EU relocation programme. Prior to their departure, IOM met with the group to explain to them the details of their journey and what to expect once they arrived in Luxembourg.
IOM launched its revised Response Plan for the Mediterranean and Beyond. The total funding requirement is USD $780 million through 31 December 2016. The plan can be found at http://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/file/IOM-Response-Plan-for-the-Mediterranean-and-Beyond-Oct2015.pdf
To date, IOM has distributed NFI and hygiene kits to a total of 10,572 migrants in Libya and has provided repatriation assistance to a total of 714 migrants from 14 different countries since the start of 2015.
IOM has increased its capacity in Croatia to gather data for the displacement tracking matrix (DTM) through the recruitment of two field interpreters (Arabic and Urdu), which has increased the numbers of non-English speaking respondents for the survey. As of 3 November, the IOM’s DTM database counted more than 400 completed surveys.
IOM Niger, in collaboration with IOM Senegal and Gambia, has identified 137 migrants (100 in Senegal and 37 in Gambia) as beneficiaries for the first community-based reintegration pilot programme.