Sri Lanka became a Member State of IOM in 1990 and IOM established its presence in the country in 2002. The IOM Sri Lanka Mission currently counts over 100 staff distributed among its Head Office in Colombo, Inbound and Outbound Migrant Health Assessment Centres & an Operations Centre in Colombo, and four Sub-Offices located in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Batticaloa.

A decade after the end of a 30 year armed conflict, Sri Lanka transitioned to an upper middle income country in July 2019. As such, Sri Lanka’s efforts as a nation have moved from short-term emergency response and conflict resolution to the challenges and opportunities of long-term development. IOM’s focus of work in Sri Lanka has shifted from meeting humanitarian needs in the former conflict areas of the North and East, towards addressing long-term sustainable development goals across the country.

Against this background, the IOM Sri Lanka mission has recently taken stock of migration opportunities and challenges the country faces and has prioritized key areas of cooperation and cross-cutting approaches to pursue its strategic objectives as detailed in the IOM Country Strategy 2018-2020.

IOM in Sri Lanka works in close partnership with national and local government institutions, non-governmental agencies, grass-roots, community organizations and the donor community, to address emerging issues, needs and priorities of the Sri Lankan Government, migrants, partners, and Member States.

WHO WE ARE

Founded in 1951, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) provides services and advice to governments and migrants. With 174 Member States, IOM continues to expand its scope of activities to address the evolving migration challenges by providing a comprehensive set of responses to complex migration issues at the operational and policy level.

IOM is part of the UN System in Sri Lanka and formally became a United Nations related Organization at the UN General Assembly in September 2016.

Sri Lanka became a Member State of IOM in 1990 and IOM established its presence in the country in 2002. The IOM Sri Lanka Mission currently counts over 100 staff distributed among its Head Office in Colombo, Inbound and Outbound Migrant Health Assessment Centres & an Operations Centre in Colombo, and three Sub-Offices located in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Batticaloa.

WHO WE WORK WITH

The Government of Sri Lanka Ministry of: Agriculture  Mahaweli Development and Environment Women and Child Affairs Defence  Finance Disaster Management Education Foreign Affairs Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Foreign Employment  National Policies and Economic Affairs Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine  Ports and Shipping   Irrigation and Water Resources Management Justice Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs  Law and Order and Southern Development Transport and Civil Aviation  National Co-Existence, Dialogue And Official Languages Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Affairs National Integration & Reconciliation Public Administration and Management  Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Youth Affairs and Skills Development
The United Nations in Sri Lanka
Donor Countries: Australia Canada China The European Union Greece Japan Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal South Korea Sweden Switzerland The United Kingdom United States of America  
Diplomatic Missions: Embassy of Italy in Sri Lanka New Zealand Consulate General in India  
Other Stakeholders: Private Sector Non-Governmental Organisations Community-Based Organisations Academia and Research Institutions

WHERE WE WORK

The IOM Sri Lanka Mission currently counts over 100 staff distributed among its Head Office in Colombo, a Migrant Health Assessment Centre and an Operations and Migrant Services Centre (both also located in Colombo), and three sub-offices located in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Batticaloa.