УДК 325.14

МЕЖДУНАРОДНАЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ ПО МИГРАЦИИ И ЕЕ УЧАСТИЕ В ИНТЕГРАЦИИ МИГРАНТОВ

Семина Вера Викторовна
Российский экономический университет имени Г.В. Плеханова
кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры иностранных язык №2

Аннотация
В статье рассматриваются основные моменты истории развития Международной Организации по Миграции. В ней дается описание усилиям, которые прикладывает МОМ для интеграции мигрантов в условия новой жизни. Автор дает характеристику основным проектам МОМ, среди которых проект Канадцы Зарубежом, Многоконфессиональный Подход и другие, основная цель которых – успешная адаптация мигрантов.

Ключевые слова: взаимная адаптация, интеграция, международная Организация по Миграции, миграция, основная проблема, осознание, понимание, тренинг


INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION AS A PARTICIPANT OF MIGRANTS’ INTEGRATION

Semina Vera Viktorovna
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics
Ph.D. in Pedagogy, Assistant Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages №2

Abstract
The article describes the key moments of the history of International Organization for Migration. It describes efforts made by IOM in order to integrate migrants to their new life. The author gives characteristic of basic projects launched by IOM, among them are Canadian Orientation Abroad, a Multifaith Aproach and some others which main objective is migrants’ successful adaptation.

Keywords: awareness, Canadian Orientation Abroad, integration, International Organization for Migration, migration, mutual adaptation, training, understanding, vital issue


Библиографическая ссылка на статью:
Семина В.В. International Organization for Migration as a Participant of Migrants’ Integration // Политика, государство и право. 2016. № 2 [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://politika.snauka.ru/2016/02/3730 (дата обращения: 12.07.2023).

Migration is not a new thing for world’s economy and politics, but last year it became an important issue of discussion and worry of politicians and people all over the world.

Migration is also of the great concern of International Organization for Migration (IOM). It was created in 1951 at the initiative of the United States and Belgium after an International Migration Conference held in Brussels. The organization was called the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movements of Migrants from Europe (it got its present-day name only in 1989) and was aimed at bringing Western Europe out of chaos of the Second World War. That time there were about 11 million people left homeless looking for shelter after the war.

The total number of IOM members was 67 countries dating back to 1998 and increased up to 162 countries in 2015 and is still growing. IOM offices are now located in 150 countries. The cause is evident and lies in the rapidly increasing number of migrants fleeing to Europe.

Statistics show that only by sea about 350 thousand asylum-seeking migrants arrived in Europe this year, twice more compared with the situation in 2014. The majority of them are from Syria and Afghanistan. Such a situation is getting more concern of citizens every year. Some recent researches done by Ipsos Mori showed that immigration is one of the most important issues that US and British citizens face. According to the survey every fourth American worries about immigration (it is about 10% of respondents), whereas top 3 issues are government, economy and jobs/unemployment. In Britain the level of anxious people is even higher (over 25% of respondents listed it as a present-day problem), and immigration takes the first place in people’s minds leaving behind even economy, health, unemployment and other important issues [1, с. 58].

Integration of migrants is one of the vital issues of IOM, which defines immigration as ‘the process of mutual adaptation between host society and migrants’. Both parties of integration should have enough tolerance and respect for the values and traditions of each other. Besides integration aims at protecting human rights of immigrants and giving them chances and opportunities for education, labour, medicine equal to the citizens of the host country. On the other side IOM assists host society integrate with the migrants as peaceful life in a multicultural country is impossible without understanding of the host society that immigration is an inevitable part of modern life and it can bring positive changes to the country,

IOM launched Canadian Orientation Abroad, a project that helps refugees and immigrants integrate and successfully adapt to life in Canada. It also provides them with pre-departure information and orientation. This project has been working quite successfully for almost twenty years and dates back to November 1998. It already helped about 200 thousand immigrants. Canadian Oriental Abroad offers free-of-charge and voluntary sessions for immigrants that may last from one up to three days and where they could get pre-departure information about their future life. The number of participants is growing every year though it has reached its peak three times since 1998 (in 2007 when the total number of participants was over 14600, then in 2012 when it almost got to 14000 and in 2015 at the amount of over 14000 immigrants), while in 1998 the number was quite small, only 773 refugees attended such sessions.

IOM provided Canadian Oriental Abroad with a special training methodology, which comprises different learning methods and styles and is aimed at the learners (learner-centered approach). Besides all the centers are well-equipped with interactive technologies, and are full of multilingual leaflets, aids and handbooks distributed during the sessions that also assist in migrants’ future integration and the staff includes qualified specialists and experts in the field of migrants’ adaptation not only in Canada, but also abroad.

The main objective of the project was to give immigrants an understanding of Canada, its culture, traditions, laws, people and society, as the immigrants have little understanding of what is waiting for them in the country and often have unrealistic idea of their future life and the country they are going to. The lack of information at the first stages can harm successful adaptation and integration of potential immigrants into Canadian society. Besides Canadian Oriental Abroad helps migrants during their first months in Canada, it assists with their integration to the labour market and tries to solve questions concerning migrants’ stay in the country.

Canadian Oriental Abroad function in 40 countries all over the world, among them are Ecuador, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Ukraine and many others.

According to Louise Belanger, Global Project Manager and Southern Africa Coordinator of Canadian Oriental Abroad, ‘The overall objective of the project is to contribute to delivery systems designed to enhance Canadian immigration and to strengthen the government’s capacity to ensure successful settlement, adaptation and integration of newcomers into Canadian society. Though this outcome can only be seen in Canada, the challenge and the accomplishments start abroad, one refugee, one immigrant, and one caregiver at a time, through the dedication of many trainers scattered in the four corners of the world’.

Besides Canadian Oriental Abroad IOM runs other projects, among which are:

1)  Migrants in the Spotlight. It deals with media coverage of vital problems of immigrants and helps to improve media understanding of immigration in former Soviet Republics (Latvia, Lithuania), the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The program also provides immigrants-journalists with a chance to take part in a training program offered by professional journalists and specialists in media.

2)  European Local Cooperation for Integration. The project is launched in such countries as Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Hungary, and Poland. It is aimed at two-way integration where both migrants and local people and authorities are aware of changes that are waiting for them and create positive attitude and relations between both sides. The programme also releases a 30-minute video, which compares integration strategies in the European Union.

3)  Integration – A Multifaith Approach. The project functions in the United Kingdom, Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Finland. This is a multi-faith programme for religious leaders which offers training sessions, seminars and civic education and aims at giving the participants an overview of political and social situation (education, employment, health, religion, immigration) in the host countries and encouraging interfaith dialogue and tolerance in Europe.

By IOM request there was created the Where We’re From interactive application that everyone can download to track migrants all over the world. The using of the application is quite easy.

Choose whether you want to access information about migrants leaving a country (Outward) or migrants entering a country (Inward). Then click on a country and watch the pattern of migration to or from the chosen country. Countries that neither send nor receive migrants will fade out. Hover over a country or over a migrant cluster to access the data. Each circle represents up to 20,000 migrants [2].

This migration visualization tool is being developed by Locus Insight in collaboration with IOM. Locus Insight is a data visualization studio dedicated to clarifying complex data through engaging interactive charts. Our work is informed by an intelligent understanding of current world topics and animated by the latest interactive data technology.

All in all, the main IOM’s objectives are social integration of migrants, distribution of information about migrants, access for migrants to training, educational and language courses, rise of awareness of migration processes in host countries and creation of projects aimed at improving existing situation with migrants.


References
  1. Демидова И.В. Миграция: зло или благо? / Государственное регулирование миграционных процессов и межнациональная политика как факторы обеспечения стабильности в современном мире: российский и зарубежный опыт. Сборник тезисов докладов и статей междунар. научно-практ. конференции российских и зарубежных университетов и РЭУ им. Г.В. Плеханова при участии представителей государственных и муниципальных органов власти. ФГБОУ ВПО «РЭУ им. Г.В. Плеханова», 2015. – С. 58-62.
  2. http://www.iom.int/

 



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