IOM was established in 1951 as an intergovernmental organization to resettle European displaced persons, refugees and migrants but has since grown to encompass a variety of activities that manage and support safe migration throughout the world. With 125 Member States, over 1,700 active projects and some 5,600 operational staff members, IOM is active on every continent.

Sri Lanka became a member state of IOM in 1990. That same year, the agency took a lead role in organizing the safe return of approximately 95,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers who were stranded in the Middle East at the start of the Gulf War. Throughout the 1990s, IOM continued to work with the government on projects to support migrant workers. This cooperation paved the way for the opening of an IOM office in Colombo in 2002. Currently IOM has 8 field offices including Trincomalee, Baticaloa, Ampara, Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Kilinochi (currently in Vavuniya) and Kurunegala and numbers more than 274 experienced national and international staff in the country.

At present IOM supports national entities to address pressing and complex challenges in their efforts to ensure safe migration. Migration management involves implementing policies and programmes; to facilitate and regulate migration, to prevent irregular migration, to mitigate the consequences of forced migration, to harness the development potential of migration and to support the return and reintegration of migrants. IOM provides assistance by utilizing its solid experience on the ground combined with organizational expertise through: Capacity Development and Technical Assistance; Policy Development and Implementation and; Direct Service Provision.

Another important component of IOM programmes is the support to stability through needs based assistance that includes early recovery and community development activities. Under this programme area, IOM supports local and returnee communities through a multi-sectoral intervention process that focuses on assistance with: movement; infrastructure development/rehabilitation; economic recovery and; referral to specialized services. Main projects under this programme service area focus on:

Supporting development and rehabilitation of large/small scale infrastructure including community and public service providing entities; Provision of reintegration services to vulnerable groups (ex-combatants and related vulnerable family members, IDPs, Refugee Returnees, Youth associated with conflict) through livelihood development activities and capacity development activities and; Provision of early recovery support for livelihoods development including: training and capacity building programmes; support to micro-enterprise development; engaging beneficiaries as labour providers and; provision of tools and equipment.

Humanitarian Assistance is the other programme area where IOM is supporting in responding to the needs created by the complex emergencies in Sri Lanka. As such the interventions under this programme area focus on:

• Relief Assistance to Conflict-Affected Populations
• Support to populations affected by Tsunami and other natural disasters

Currently the organization’s experience and expertise in relief operations is built to address urgent needs of populations affected by conflict and natural disasters. IOM’s strategy for relief operations in Sri Lanka focuses on providing fast and reliable assistance to communities by tailoring interventions to their specific needs as assessed directly or through joint agency assessments.

Key components of IOM’s relief operations are: Shelter Provision/ Camp Management, Water Sanitation and Hygiene Support (WASH), Livelihood Restoration and Food Security, Psychosocial Support and Transport & Logistics Assistance to the government and relief agencies.