INFORMATION SEMINARS FOR SKILLED WORKERS
Thinking about moving to Canada as an economic migrant? Would you like to learn more about Canada’s federal skilled worker program? The Canadian Embassy invites you to attend one of its interactive information sessions. The presentation will be done in English for all sessions, except the one in Chisinau on November 8, 2011 which will be in French. However questions will be entertained in English, French or Romanian at all the sessions. All citizens or legal residents of Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova are welcome to attend but the information will be of most use to professionals with post-secondary education and knowledge of Canada’s official languages (English and/or French).

Schedule:

Tuesday, 29 November 2011  (English session) at 18h00 - Sofia, Bulgaria; International Organization for Migration (IOM) Information Centre  - 76 , Tzar Samuil street , Sofia , Bulgaria (capacity: 40 persons)
Please send an e-mail to bucharest-immigration@international.gc.ca with the word “Seminar” in the subject line if you wish to attend. Please indicate the date for which you wish to register. For identification purposes, please indicate your surname and given name as shown on your ID card.

Bulgarian Workers Stranded in Iraq Return Home

Ukrainian and Bulgarian Labourers Stranded in Iraq Return Home- A remaining group of 22 migrant workers abandoned and left in dire straits by their employer in Iraq have been helped to return home following an intervention by IOM.

The 15 Ukrainians and 7 Bulgarians were part of an original group of 217 migrant workers recruited to work on a construction project inside the international zone in Baghdad in December, 2010. They were abandoned by their employer who disappeared after the work on the project stopped in mid-April this year.

Promised a 2,500 USD month salary when they were hired, the workers had only received a few hundred dollars in wages when their employer absconded, leaving them with no means to live on.

After months of unsuccessful negotiations with the contractor to pay them their overdue salaries, the workers appealed for help from the international community.

IOM has been helping them since then by providing food and humanitarian assistance and by advocating for their situation to be resolved with the Iraqi authorities.

Geneva, 8 March 2011 - Increased attention should be given to the situation of skilled migrant women for whom qualifications and education do not always translate into higher-skilled employment in destination countries, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as it marks International Women’s Day today.

Over the past decades, worldwide efforts to increase girls’ access to education have allowed an increased number of women to obtain secondary and tertiary education.  This increased level of education amongst women accounts for the growing number of women migrating on their own to pursue study or career opportunities. 

Ambassador Laura Thompson Chacón of Costa Rica has today been elected as the next Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration.

Ambassador Thompson Chacón was elected by a two-thirds majority vote of the Council, which brought together IOM Member States.

Laura Thompson Chacón brings to IOM a wealth of international experience, most recently as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva.

Over the course of her diplomatic career, she has represented Costa Rica to UNESCO, the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva.

In this capacity, Ambassador Thompson Chacón chaired several bodies on migration and refugee related matters, including the Executive Committee and the Council of the International Organization of Migration (IOM), and the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY - VULNERABILITIES OF MIGRANT WOMEN EXACERBATED BY INACCESSIBILITY TO MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH SERVICES

Migrant-hosting communities the world over need to provide accessible, acceptable and affordable maternal and child health services for all migrants, irrespective of their legal status, in order to lessen the vulnerability of women to migration, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“Women and girls, especially when forced to migrate or when in an irregular situation, are disproportionately affected by the risks of migration because of their vulnerability to exploitation and violence,” says IOM Deputy Director General Ndioro Ndiaye to mark International Women’s Day.

The International Organization for Migration, Mission in Bulgaria implements the project “Combating Trafficking in Human Beings for Labour Exploitation” with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the Balkan Trust for Democracy.
The project aims at both strengthening institutional responses while also stimulating the responsible and informed behavior of migrants and the public to prevent abuse and violations in the field of trafficking focusing primarily on labour exploitation. For the first time in Bulgaria, the project will specifically work to prevent abuse and trafficking for labour exploitation among the incoming foreign community.

IOM Bulgaria representative invited by the Bulgarian National CT Commission, visited Romania in the framework of the EU project “Reducing the number of Romanian and Bulgarian victims trafficked into Italy and Spain”.

During the visit,  meetings were organized with thirteen institutions in Bucharest, governmental, international and nongovernmental organizations working in the field of prevention and combating human trafficking.

Ms. Ilyana Derilova, Chief of IOM Mission in Bulgaria was awarded with the Bulgarian Red Cross Exclusive Award Plate and Certificate of Appreciation for substantial contribution and cooperation with the Bulgarian Red Cross on the occasion of 130th  Anniversary of the Bulgarian Red Cross.

GENEVA - 18 December 2008 - Countries should recognize the positive contribution that migrants can make to economic growth and recovery and resist the temptation to close doors to them in times of economic slowdown, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as it marks International Migrants’ Day today.

“Although the economic crisis is still unfolding and its full impact remains unclear, it would be counter-productive for governments in developed countries to close their doors to migrants. Many of them are still needed in jobs that citizens in industrialized countries are unable or unwilling to take,” says IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.

This structural need for migrants, who represent the human face of globalization, is underlined by demographic projections showing that by 2050, these countries will experience even greater labour shortages due to falling birth rates and aging working populations, leaving twice as many people over 60 years of age than children. Indeed, migration has become a linchpin of globalization.

On 09 December 2008 Ms. Ilyana Derilova, Chief of IOM Bulgaria Mission attended Round Table on “Practices and Challenges in Combating Human Trafficking in Europe” organized by the National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Embassies of Finland and Norway in Bulgaria. The round table was attended by Ms. Eva Biaudet, OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. Ms. Derilova was a key note speaker and presented IOM role in Bulgaria in the field of combating THB and establishing the Bulgarian CT system.