Kyiv – Ukraine made an additional important step forward to the best international practices in migration management this week, with the Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) Country Profile validated at an IOM-organized meeting in Kyiv.

From countering human trafficking to border management; from the State’s communication with citizens willing to return from abroad to the access of irregular migrants to healthcare; from nourishing partnerships with private sector to mainstreaming the development potential of migration into national strategic policies, the MGI Country Profile provides Ukraine with insights on policy levers that the country can use to further enhance and strengthen its migration governance.

“With MGI profile we will be able to compare our migration management policy with the best international practices in real time. Around 90 indicators of the profile will allow Ukrainian government entities to assess their programming and foster their strategic planning,” said Head of the State Migration Service (SMS) of Ukraine, Maksym Sokoliuk. He also pledged the readiness of the SMS to lead the periodic revision of the report once in three years to keep this policy instrument up-to-date and useful.

“We appreciate the commitment and openness of the Ukrainian Government in drafting the MGI country profile. The active involvement of over nine ministries and other state authorities in the development of the report made it really comprehensive and contributed to promoting migration as a cause, consequence and catalyst of the development,” said IOM Ukraine’s Chief of Mission, Dr. Thomas Lothar Weiss.

Deputy Minister of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, Heorhii Tuka, highlighted the importance to keep internal migration and the needs of displaced populations in focus of migration governance initiatives. “International community’s support is vital and we stand ready to further develop our cooperation with IOM for better reintegration of IDPs,” he said.

The final MGI report on Ukraine will be published later this year. It will help Ukraine advance its migration governance also in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, facilitating orderly, safe, and responsible mobility of people – be it Ukrainian labour migrants, returnees, foreigners coming to Ukraine or Ukrainian conflict-affected populations – through planned and well-managed policies.

Migration Governance Indicators process is the global initiative implemented by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, with analytical support of The Economist Intelligence Unit and participation of the national migration-management authorities. To date, 50 countries have been included in the MGI process. More info available at https://migrationdataportal.org/

For more information please contact Varvara Zhluktenko at IOM Ukraine, Tel: +38 044 568 50 15, E-mail: vzhluktenko@iom.int