BAHAMAS JOINS IOM AS 106^TH MEMBER STATE 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is honoured to announce that The Bahamas’ application for membership in The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), was unanimously approved today at the 88^th Session of the IOM Council. 

The IOM is an inter-governmental agency that works directly with migrants and Governments, that was created in 1951 as a provisional committee responsible for migration issues in Europe and which nowadays is responsible for migration challenges worldwide.  The IOM currently has 105 member Governments and 27 observers and has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.  

The IOM’s mandate is to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration; to promote international cooperation on migration issues; to aid in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, be they refugees, displaced persons or other uprooted people. It accomplishes the foregoing by providing services and advice to governments and migrants. The IOM’s work covers  four broad areas of migration management: migration and development, facilitating migration, regulating migration and addressing forced migration. Cross-cutting activities include promotion of international migration law, policy debate and guidance, protection of migrants rights, migration health and the gender dimension of migration. 

As an archipelagic nation of 700 islands and over 2,000 islets and cays, with its territory spread across 100,000 square miles of water and a land mass covering 5,382 square miles 45 miles south of the United States of America, with 16 official ports of entry, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas has had considerable experience with migration.  As a small island developing state with limited resources,  irregular migration, primarily from Haiti, has proven to be one of the country’s  most significant challenges. 

The comparative strength of the Bahamian economy and the difficulty in policing its borders make it a natural and attractive destination for irregular migrants who are seeking job opportunities for a better way of life.  Also, since The Bahamas is only some 45 miles from the Florida coast, these islands are often used as a gateway for irregular migrants bound for the United States. Indeed, The Bahamas has been experiencing migration flows from the Republic of Haiti from the 19t^h Century due in part to political unrest and lack of economic opportunity in that country coupled with the need for low cost labour in The Bahamas.  

Despite the continuous repatriation of newly arrived illegal migrants, primarily from Haiti, the country continues to receive steady numbers of illegal migrants, which creates a burden on the Government’s limited financial and human resources. In the period January 2000- October 2004, for example, some 25,942 persons of various nationalities were repatriated at a cost of just under five million US dollars ($5,000,000). 

Furthermore, this unexpected expenditure places an even greater burden on the Government’s ability to plan and budget effectively and the Government has decided that international assistance is needed to develop a more effective migration management programme.  

The Government decided that it should seek membership in the IOM, having benefited from assistance from the IOM for many years, particularly with respect to repatriating illegal immigrants to distant countries such as China and India, as well as facilitating Bahamian attendance at  IOM sponsored conferences dealing with migration issues for several years, the most recent of which was held in The Bahamas from 8-12 November 2004 and making it possible for The Bahamas to benefit from the services of an international consultant on border and migration management, who is presently engaged in a project which includes the conduct of a survey to determine the size  of Haitian immigrant population in The Bahamas.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
November 30, 2004