IOM Special Council Session, Item 5 IOM-UN Relations, Statement by H.E. Ambassador Misako KAJI, Permanent Mission of Japan in Geneva (30 June 2016)

Mr. Chairman,

　Japan would like to join member states in welcoming the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the People’s Republic of China as new Member States of the IOM. Their membership would, I am sure, further enrich the important activities of the Organization.
　Japan expresses its appreciation to the Council for holding this first Special Session on this important topic of the IOM-UN relationship.
 
Mr. Chairman,

　Japan has been a member of the IOM since 1993, and with a particular emphasis on human security, has extended assistance to other forcibly displaced persons through the IOM. IOM has also been instrumental in assisting victims of human trafficking in Japan and the resettlement of Myanmar refugees in Japan.
　To date Japan has shared with many members of this Council a long-held concern on the relations between the IOM and the UN, as demonstrated by the establishment of the Working Group on Institutional Arrangements in 2002, and the Working Group on IOM-UN relations and the IOM strategy in 2014. As we all know, however, it has never been easy to redesign bureaucracies already in place, however necessary it might have seemed. The particular concern by some interested members of the Council including Japan, has been that the status quo might have had potential negative impacts on the IOM’s actions in the field, where its access to the coordination as well as the funding mechanisms within the UN system have been limited.
 
Mr. Chairman,

　With the number of persons displaced reaching over 60 million, the largest since the Second World War, the mandate of the IOM to address issues relating to “human mobility,” has become a most pressing challenge for the international community.
　The displacement issue is to be focused at the High-Level meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants on 19 September in New York. The signing of the Agreement concerning the relationship between the UN and the IOM at this meeting is an act that fits for purpose of the endeavors by the international community to tackle the long-standing issue in an unprecedented scale.
　We appreciate the highly transparent process undertaken by the Working Group on IOM-UN relations under your able leadership, Mr. Chair. We welcome the formulation of the draft agreement, which would facilitate both organizations to fulfil their respective mandates.
　We also appreciate Director General Swing’s efforts in preserving the IOM as the global lead agency on migration, while preventing substantial budget increase-which is very likely to occur in the course of making changes in organizational configurations- and through this, in successfully composing the draft UN-IOM agreement.
 
Mr. Chairman,

　Japan supports the draft resolution C/SP/1/L/10 and C/SP/1/L/11 and calls upon other Member States for their support so that the draft the UN-IOM agreement will be approved and necessary costs will be met.
　Japan also hopes that resolutions to give effect to the agreement be adopted at the UN General Assembly in September.
　Then we should hope that the IOM and all the relevant UN bodies swiftly take necessary actions to implement the agreement.
　This will enable the IOM to retain the strengths on which Japan places importance, namely its independence, flexibility and responsiveness while working more closely with other UN organizations.
 　This would also contribute in avoiding duplication of the activities among partners in the field, and in achieving SDG’s target 10.7 : to facilitate orderly, safe, and responsible
migration and movement of people.
　Accordingly we believe the UN including the IOM would make a more powerful contribution to resolving the current challenges surrounding the human mobility. This Council should be watchful and active in making sure that the agreement once signed be fulfilled and steadily followed up.
 
I thank you.