Crisis Response

Conflicts, armed violence, disasters, epidemics, pandemics and other crises force millions of people to leave their homes and communities, sometimes for years or even decades. More than 82 million people are currently living in displacement within and across borders with disasters displacing around 25 million on average each year. Economic downturns, political instability and other drivers also compel large population movements.

As the leading UN agency working on migration, we are committed to saving lives and helping populations move out of harm’s way. We protect and assist those displaced or stranded by crisis, and support populations and their communities to recover. We work to mitigate adverse drivers that force people from their homes, help build resilience and focus on reducing disaster risk so that movement and migration can be a choice.

The Organization is among the world’s largest humanitarian actors and one of the few international organizations directly impacting programmes across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus to provide comprehensive responses at all phases of crises. 

Emergency Response and Post-Crisis Migration Management

The East and Horn of Africa region has been in an almost permanent state of conflict, driving hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes into neigbouring areas and countries. As of May 2017, Uganda hosted the largest number of refugees in Africa and the third-highest in the world.

Forced into a foreign country with limited resources, refugees and asylum seekers usually need a lot of support to prevent displacement from degenerating into full-fledged humanitarian crises. Over the years, IOM has responded to these emergencies by providing safe water, strengthening sanitation, and supporting healthcare facilities. At the same time, IOM works to promote social stability as an antidote to conflicts that trigger displacement and other emergencies.

Under one of its longest-running programmes, IOM has been conducting operations to resettle refugees from Uganda to such countries as the United States of America, Australia and Canada. Departing refugees get medical screening, cultural orientation and all the requisite travel arrangements. In the same vein of assisting migrants, IOM operates a non-profit Visa Application Centre for people intending to travel to Canada.