The IOM handbook on migrant protection and assistance.

Many migrants experience violence, exploitation and abuse during and after their migratory journey. Addressing and reducing vulnerabilities in migration is one of the objectives of the newly adopted Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. However, this can be a challenge for protection actors and service providers, as there is no internationally accepted definition of “vulnerable migrant,” no clear procedures for identifying them, nor operational guidelines for their protection and assistance. To address this gap, IOM undertook development of the IOM Handbook on Protection and Assistance for Migrants Vulnerable to Violence, Exploitation and Abuse within the auspices of the Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT). The Handbook is intended to support case managers, service providers, communities, humanitarian and development actors, States and other actors working to provide protection and assistance to migrants vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse.

IOM’s approach to migrant vulnerability is rooted in the belief that the human rights of all persons, including migrants, should be upheld and promoted and that migrants who are vulnerable, regardless of category or status, should be afforded the protection and assistance they require. IOM’s migrant vulnerability model was specifically developed to identify, protect and assist migrants who have experienced or are vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse – before, during or after migrating − and to guide the development and implementation of appropriate programmatic and structural interventions to reduce such vulnerabilities.
The Handbook recognize that migrants and their households and families, and the communities and groups to which they belong, are situated in a broader social environment, and that both resilience and vulnerability are determined by the presence, absence and interaction of risk and protection factors at the various levels – individual, household/family, community and structural. Each level also requires different approaches to address the risks of vulnerability, as outlined in each of the chapters in the Handbook.

Click here to download the full Handbook. Specific chapters can also be downloaded separately by clicking on the links below