IOM help sought to repatriate Lankans stranded in Azerbaijan and Iran

Sri Lankan Ambassador in Tehran Wishwanath Aponsu has requested Chief of International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Iran Lalini Veerassamy to support the repartition process of Sri Lankans stranded in Azerbaijan and Iran.

The request was made when Veerassamy visited the Sri Lankan embassy in Teheran recently. According to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry here, Ambassador Aponsu and the top IOM official there exchanged views on international migration, its impact on the socio-economic development of states, increasing trend of illegal migrants from South Asian countries to Iran, joint mechanism for the governance of illegal migration, repartition issues of Sri Lankan illegal migrants in Iran, human smuggling and trafficking.

Veerassamy has expressed the view that due to the instability in various regions of the world and the economic crisis affecting a number of countries, there has been a significant increase of illegal migrants and refugees especially in the West Asia region. The Sri Lankan envoy spoke about the measures that have been taken by the Embassy of Sri Lanka to tackle migration issues and assist Sri Lankan workers in the marine sector in coordination with the relevant authorities of Iran.

Apprising the Chief of Mission on the current developments in Sri Lanka, the Ambassador has requested assistance from the IOM Tehran Office to speed up the repatriation process of Sri Lankans stranded in Azerbaijan and Iran, providing training programmes to the Embassy staff, sharing IOM information with the Sri Lankan Mission in Iran and facilitating accommodation and other required assistance for Sri Lankans stranded in Iran. In response, the IOM Chief stated her willingness to facilitate IOM assistance to Sri Lankans stranded in Iran and to provide training for the Embassy staff.