Introduction
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) was founded in 1951, in the aftermath of World War II in order to assist displaced people.
Sixty-four years later, human mobility is an essential feature of the modern world. The Middle East and North Africa region hosts one of the world’s largest migrant populations, with more than 34 million migrants in 2015 according to data by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.1 Saudi Arabia hosts the fourth largest migrant population worldwide. The majority of migrants from the Arab region stay in the region, while migration from outside the region – especially from Asia – is also on the increase.
People move to, through and from the region for a variety – and combination – of reasons. Labour migration to the Gulf States, partly from other Arab States as well as from further afield, continues to be a central component of their economic growth. North African countries have continued to host people from sub-Saharan African countries seeking employment or attempting to cross the Mediterranean to make their futures in Europe.
However, protracted crises and political and social instability have been among the top drivers of migration in, to and from the region, causing people to move on an unprecedented scale.
In 2015, conflicts continued unabated in Iraq, Libya, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, while their neighbouring countries struggled to deal with the effects on their societies and infrastructures.
The statistics of these conflicts are almost unimaginable – over 4 million Syrians are refugees and a further 7 million are internally displaced. There are over 3.2 million displaced people in Iraq as a result of insecurity. Over 80 per cent of Yemenis are in need of humanitarian assistance. One million people crossed the Mediterranean in 2015, seeking safety, sanctuary and stability.
Behind the numbers, it is too easy to forget the stories of individual men, women, and children whose lives are marked by migration and marred by displacement every day.
In 2015, IOM launched the global “I Am a Migrant” campaign, to battle xenophobia, humanize the statistics, and celebrate the diversity and potential among those who are collectively labelled “migrants”. In this report, too, we take a step back from statistics to focus on the people rather than the numbers.