Migrant Protection and Assistance

The International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Migrant Protection and Assistance unit (MPA) works towards promoting and upholding migrant’s rights and supporting migrants and their communities to access and exercise those rights. It also offers support to governments in carrying out their duties to respect, protect and fulfil these rights, in line with international standards and practices.

The MPA unit’s activities aim to reduce the protection risks of individuals in vulnerable situations, and in particular those who are exposed to abuse, exploitation, violence, neglect and deliberate deprivation. It does so by addressing protection threats and vulnerabilities while increasing the capacities of individuals, their communities, as well as those of their duty bearers. Protection encompasses all activities aimed at obtaining full respect for the rights of the individual in accordance with the letter and spirit of the relevant bodies of law. It seeks to secure individual or group rights, and aims to create a society in which those rights are recognized and upheld.

Assistance includes all activities which directly support individuals and their families, their communities, and governments, as well as broader structural level interventions and includes support to meet immediate, medium or long-term needs. Activities of the MPA unit include the safe and dignified voluntary return and sustainable reintegration; resettlement, relocation, and movement assistance; assistance to vulnerable migrants; counter-trafficking in persons; and community-based private sponsorship.