December 2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the International Organization for Migration.
In accordance with its Statute, IOM is an international intergovernmental organization responsible for coordinating international migration policy, discussing current migration issues, and providing technical and advisory assistance to its members states in theses fields.
Under IOM’s Strategic Plan (2024-2028), its main focus areas include improving migration management and ensuring the proper protection of migrants’ rights, promoting the economic and social development of states through migration, fostering and further developing the International Dialogue on Migration, as well as capacity-building in such areas as combating human trafficking, particularly of women and children.
IOM’s global headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
Since October 1, 2023, Ms. Amy Pope (United States) has served as IOM’s Director General for a five-year term.
IOM operates a network of nearly 550 offices in 171 countries worldwide.
For 2026, the organization’s budget has been approved in the amount of $2.62 billion, of which $2.52 billion consists of voluntary financial contributions from donor countries, and $102.7 million consists of annual assessed contributions from IOM member states.
The IOM Mission in Ukraine began its work in Kyiv in 1996.
Ukraine became a member of the IOM pursuant to the Law of Ukraine No. 114-IV of July 11, 2002, “On the Adoption of the IOM Statute”. Cooperation with IOM and the activities of the IOM Mission in Ukraine are governed by the Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and IOM dated December 3, 1999 (ratified by the Law of Ukraine dated July 13, 2000).
Currently, IOM’s structure in Ukraine consists of the Mission in Kyiv and regional offices in Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Lviv, Mykolaiv, and Poltava. Since September 2025, Robert Turner (Canada) has served as the Head of the IOM Mission in Ukraine.
IOM’s activities in Ukraine are coordinated by the Department of Emergency and Operations at IOM Headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), as well as by the IOM Regional Office in Vienna (Austria).
In Ukraine, IOM works in collaboration with over 80 partners, including central and local government agencies, as well as NGOs. IOM Mission in Ukraine has signed memorandums of understanding with all Ukrainian ministries and agencies involved in migration issues and has concluded local partnership agreements with 48 communities most affected by the Russia’s armed aggression.
Traditionally, one of the IOM’s key focus areas in Ukraine has been supporting the efforts of the Government of Ukraine in the areas of migration and border management, as well as combating human trafficking. With IOM’s assistance and participation, more than 50 legislative
acts have been developed, including the Concept of State Migration Policy, the Law “On Border Control”, the Law “On Combating Human Trafficking” and the Strategy of the State Migration Policy.
The IOM Mission in Ukraine serves as the secretariat for the Diaspora Alliance for Ukraine’s Recovery, which was established in December 2025 with the support of IOM and the EU to strengthen Ukraine`s relations with the global Ukrainian community, harness its potential and capabilities to advance Ukraine’s recovery, as well as to facilitate the voluntary return of Ukrainians who have temporarily relocated abroad as a result of the Russia’s armed aggression.
With the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, IOM significantly expanded its humanitarian assistance programs in Ukraine. According to the IOM Flash Appeal for Ukraine released on March 1, 2022, IOM mobilized $466 million in 2022 for humanitarian response to support internally displaced persons in Ukraine and Ukrainians in neighbouring countries.
Between 2022 and 2025, the organization provided assistance to nearly 8.66 million citizens in Ukraine, totalling nearly $1 billion. Specifically, in 2025, approximately 564,000 citizens in Ukraine received assistance amounting to $52.3 million. Assistance was primarily directed toward supporting internally displaced persons and the most affected communities and included:
- non-food aid;
- temporary shelter and housing assistance;
- legal counselling (combating gender-based violence, human trafficking, and assistance with documentation);
- medical assistance;
- psychosocial support and psychological assistance;
- multipurpose cash assistance to affected individuals and internally displaced persons;
- financial assistance to households to help them get through the winter;
- repairs and maintenance of heating and water supply facilities and networks, as well as delivery of drinking water.
As part of its efforts to support recovery and reconstruction in Ukraine, IOM repaired more than 35,000 private homes and apartments from 2022 to 2025. In 2025, IOM helped improve access to essential services for nearly 59,000 Ukrainian citizens, including by repairing and maintaining a number of district boiler rooms, water and wastewater systems. Also in 2025, nearly 13,500 Ukrainian citizens received assistance from IOM with employment, retraining, and financial grants for business development.
IOM continues to provide support for Ukraine`s energy system, specifically: 1) with support from the Government of France, a number of cogeneration units were provided; 2) with support from the Government of Denmark, 40 solid-fuel boiler rooms were provided to meet the needs of educational institutions and hospitals in the Mykolaiv region. Energy equipment was also installed in the Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, and Ternopil regions, among others.
In addition to its activities in Ukraine, between 2022 and 2025, the International Organization for Migration also provided assistance worth of $252 million to nearly 1.38 million Ukrainians who were forced to temporarily relocate to Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion. In particular, temporarily displaced persons in Europe received rental assistance; cash assistance; essential goods; sanitation and hygiene assistance; legal counselling;
medical services; psychological assistance and psychosocial support; short-term accommodation; and assistance with access to social services and economic opportunities.
According to the IOM’s Strategic Response Plan for Ukraine and Neighbouring Countries for 2024–2026, with a budget of $1.5 billion, the budget for IOM operations in Ukraine in 2026 is projected at $372.2 million. In addition, the document envisions to allocate some US$105.5 million to support Ukrainians who moved to Europe as a result of the Russia`s war of aggression.
With the EU financial support, the IOM Mission in Ukraine has established a system to monitor the situation of internally displaced persons, which aims to support the Government of Ukraine and the international donor community in collecting and analysing information on the number and socioeconomic characteristics of IDPs, as well as their pressing humanitarian needs. Through regular population surveys IOM has been able to identify current humanitarian needs, as well as the areas where assistance is needed most.
Relevant Ukrainian authorities and IOM have been cooperating on a regular basis to implement the project: “EU Support for Ukraine: Strengthening Integrated Border Management and Pathways of Solidarity,” which aims to promote trade and economic recovery in Ukraine to overcome the consequences of the war by managing the movement of critical goods through designated border crossing points and building capacity of Ukrainian government agencies in the areas of border and migration management.
The dialogue between Ukraine and the IOM continues to develop actively.
On April 8–12, 2024, during her visit to Ukraine, the IOM Director General was received by President V. Zelenskyy. Two cooperation agreements were also signed between IOM and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.
In February 2025, on the sidelines of the Munich Conference, IOM Director General E. Pope met with Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine A. Sybiha. Also in February 2025, while on visit to Ukraine, IOM Europe Regional Director A. Erken met with State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs O. Karasevych.
IOM Director General E. Pope participated in the 2025 Ukraine Recovery Conference (July 10–11, Rome), while her Deputy, U. Daniels, participated in the 2026 Ukraine Recovery Conference (June 25–26, Gdańsk).
In addition, during her visit to Ukraine (July 21–25, 2025), IOM Deputy Director General Son A. Lee participated as a special guest in one of the thematic sessions of the annual Conference of the Heads of Ukraine’s diplomatic missions.