"INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION - IOM"

Since mid-September, there has been a significant increase in the number of undocumented Afghans forced to return to Afghanistan from Pakistan with at least 327,400 people arriving. This sudden influx – which represents a more than four-fold increase on the number of Afghans who returned to the country between January and August 2023 – is putting tremendous pressure on already strained resources and capacity. OCHA

In Armenia, the majority of refugees who arrived in the border town of Goris have since dispersed to other parts of the country. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported that many of those who sought refuge in Armenia undertook arduous journeys, often walking for days and finding shelter in caves or basements, enduring extremely challenging conditions. IOM

In an interview via teleconference from Yerevan, Armenia, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesperson Joe Lowry said that twenty-thousand people a day have been crossing the border and passing through Goris on their way to other parts of Armenia, “it had been a very, very crowded, very fraught situation,” adding that the UN is providing emergency humanitarian aid. UNIFEED

With people on the move globally at “unprecedented” levels, the UN’s new migration agency chief insisted that rather than being a problem, host countries should recognize that migrants were what their economies needed to thrive. UNTV CH

Addressing the Security Council about migrants in the Mediterranean, the Head of the UN Refugee Agency in New York, Ruven Menikdiwela, said, “Saving lives at sea and providing humanitarian assistance is one of the most basic obligations of humanity, and those performing rescue operations or helping in good faith should not be penalized for doing so.” UNIFEED / FILE

Maintenance of international peace and security - Security Council, 9428th meeting.

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

The International Organization for Migration appealed for governments in Central America and Mexico to collaborate to address the immediate humanitarian needs of people on the move as unprecedented numbers of vulnerable migrants transit through the region while also working on long-term solutions to tackle the drivers of migration. IOM

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Press briefing by Georgette Gagnon, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, on the situation in the country.