The Moscow Bureau of the International Organization for Migration in 2000-01 is traditionally focused on the following areas of activity:
Direct Assistance to Forced Migrants
The Program of direct assistance to migrant communities (DAP) was developed in 1993 to improve the integration prospects of migrants living in the so-called “compact settlements”. The latter are established by groups or associations of migrants with similar interests or backgrounds, in areas where housing is made available to some or all members of the new community. An outcome of this settlement pattern is the scarcity of employment opportunities available in such communities. The DAP aims to support migrants’ income-generating initiatives through the provision of essential tools, equipment, machinery and vehicles to migrant enterprises.
Technical Cooperation in Migration Management
In the year 2001, IOM is planning to continue assisting governmental bodies engaged in migration management. One of the envisioned activities will be a demonstration project for improving the management of the Belgorod-Kharkiv sector of the Russian-Ukrainian border, aimed at preventing illegal migration and facilitating legal admission at the border check-points. These objectives will be achieved by improving operational aspects of border management, including technical means of control, and through addressing national framework issues, such as migration legislation.
Health Care Services for Migrants
In 2000, IOM developed a Regional Health Care Services Project for migrants hosted in TACs and selected migrant settlements in four selected regions near the border between Russian and Ukraine, where other IOM programs are being implemented. This initiative grew out of a small-scale pilot project, undertaken by IOM in 1999 to improve the quality of medical care, available for a sample group of migrants living in selected TACs and compact migrant settlements. The present project aims to facilitate the access of a larger population of migrants to medical services, particularly preventive care, and to upgrade the capacities, both institutional and operational, of local health care providers. The project will offer a tested set of health care services, material assistance and capacity building activities and will be carried out in close cooperation with FMS, the Russian Red Cross and local medical institutions.
Health Care Activities in the Northern Caucasus
With funding from the Government of Norway, IOM is implementing a health care project in Northern Ossetia and Ingushetia. It is a joint IOM-WHO project for the control and prevention of TB among the IDPs and host families. Activities under this project include training health care practitioners in the diagnosis and management of TB, providing TB laboratories with basic equipment and implementing an education campaign for the prevention of TB.
Resettlement programs
At the request of the US Government, IOM Moscow continues to assist in the processing of citizens of the former USSR and third countries (UNHCR cases) who apply to resettle in the United States. The relevant services, including transport assistance, migrant counseling, document processing and medical examinations, are delivered by IOM. IOM Moscow also provides similar service packages to migrants, resettling to Canada and Australia. These programs are also administered at the request and the expense of those countries’ governments.
While intending to continue its involvement in the traditional areas of activity, IOM Moscow intends to embark on new projects:
Information Campaign for the Prevention of Trafficking in Russian Women for Sexual Exploitation
Responding to the mounting activity of traffickers in migrants, particularly women and children, IOM is discussing with potential donors the possibility of launching an anti-trafficking initiative in the Russian Federation. Based on the results of an envisioned comprehensive research in the causes and trends of the trafficking in women phenomenon in Russia, IOM plans to proceed in the field of prevention, designing an information campaign to alert potential victims to the risks associated with traffickers’ activities. The campaign will aim at stemming the outflow of young women, seeking illegal employment abroad with the help of unlicensed and untrustworthy agents. Potential donors for this activity are the US and the European Union.
Return and Reintegration Assistance to Victims of Trafficking.
To supplement the intended trafficking prevention activities described above, IOM Moscow is exploring the avenues of cooperation with the governments and IOM missions in traffickers’ destination countries to assist in the return and reintegration of Russian victims of sexual trafficking. Since the beginning of the year 2000, IOM Moscow, in partnership with IOM Tirana and IOM Pristina, has provided transportation services to three Russian women escaping from sex traders in Southern Europe. Upon their arrival in Russia, two of these women were offered psychological counseling and reintegration assistance from NGOs - members of the “Angel Coalition”, Russia’s first anti-trafficking partnership created under the auspices of MiraMed Institute, a Russian-American charity organization. IOM regards the “Angel Coalition” participants as potential partners in its future anti-trafficking projects.