The International Organization for Migration (IOM) initiated its first global annual appeal on Monday, seeking to raise $7.9 billion in 2024 to cope with the growing scale of population displacement.
Amy Pope, the Director-General of the United Nations-affiliated agency, stressed that funding is crucial for saving lives, protecting displaced individuals, finding solutions to displacement, and facilitating safe pathways for regular migration.
Pope, who assumed her role in October, becoming the first woman to lead the agency, affirmed, ” “Irregular and forced migration have reached unprecedented levels and the challenges we face are increasingly complex.”
“The evidence shows us that only being reactive means that more people are dying and being exploited as they migrate. This appeal will allow us to save more lives and work together more responsibly,” she said.
Migrants often make harrowing, perilous journeys to escape their conditions at home, many dying in the process.
Pope emphasized that “we can and must make a greater effort.”
IOM data shows that 281 million international migrants, from manual labourers to white-collar jobholders, generate nearly 10 percent of global economic output.
