Add us as your preferred source on Google to see more of our content in Search.
Add to Preferred SourcesThe promotion of safe, orderly and regular migration is at the heart of the long-term partnership agreement signed on September 10 between the UN Migration Agency (IOM) and Turkish Airlines, one of the largest carriers in the world.
Signed by IOM Director General William Lacy Swing and Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, M. İlker Aycı, the cooperation will focus initially on the Organization’s Migration Application (MigApp), which leverages the widespread use of telecommunications technology to provide practical information about services available to migrants globally.
“The agreement opens a whole range of possibilities for cooperation both in terms of Turkish Airlines’ commitment to social responsibility and our own commitments to migrants and refugees,” said DG Swing.
“It is in many ways an ideal partnership as it will allow us to do a lot more in terms of informing migrants, in terms of promoting migrant rights, in terms of training to sensitize airline officials to smuggling and trafficking in persons which is one of the heinous crimes of our times,” he added.
“As the national flag carrier of Turkey, a leading country today that tries to extend its hand to the vulnerable communities in the world, we are glad to strengthen our collaboration with IOM. Through this agreement, we see a way to promote the idea of living together in peace and traveling freely and legally as envisioned under the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.” Chairman Aycı said of the accord.
IOM hopes that the agreement will lead to further collaborations on awareness-raising campaigns on safe travel in countries of origin to help counter the trafficking of migrants as well as on cooperation on border support and documentation – including the possible training of Turkish Airlines employees and partners.
The agreement with a major private sector company comes against the backdrop of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) which recognizes the need for safer, orderly and regular migration (Goal 10.7), and as part of the forthcoming Global Compact on Migration, acknowledges that a cooperative approach is needed to optimize the overall benefits of migration, while addressing the risks and challenges facing individuals and communities in countries of origin, transit and destination.
Original source: IOM
Published on 11 September 2018