IOM Director General William Lacy Swing will tomorrow begin a
three-day official visit to Kuwait – his first to that
country.

He will meet with His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah
Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and senior officials including the
Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Social Affairs
and Labour, the Chief of the National Assembly and the Chairman of
the Board of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent. 

“My visit to Kuwait is to pay my respects to the
Government of Kuwait, His Highness the Amir and to express
IOM’s sincere appreciation for their continuing support of
our global humanitarian activities,” said Director General
Swing. 

For the past nine years, Kuwait has been contributing USD
500,000 annually in support of IOM's global humanitarian
activities. 

IOM also works with the Government of Kuwait to train police
officers and law enforcement officials on human rights, contractual
labour and prevention of human trafficking, as well as providing
technical assistance to strengthen national migration management
systems. 

Last year IOM, under the auspices of the Kuwaiti Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labour, brought together government
representatives from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates) to discuss alternatives to the current
sponsorship system for migrant workers.

The workshop underlined the need for collaborative approaches
between labour sending and receiving countries to manage temporary
contractual labour. A follow up meeting, also attended by
representatives of the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences,
was held in April 2012. 

In February 2012 IOM Kuwait organized a five-day workshop on
combatting transnational crime, under the auspices of
Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior.
It was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Interior of
Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and the Qatar
Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking. 

For more information please contact 

Iman Ereiqat

IOM Kuwait

Tel: +965 25308164

Email: "mailto:iereiqat@iom.int">iereiqat@iom.int