News Briefs – World Migration Organization Proposed

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an inter-governmental body with more than 100 member states, tries to address migration issues outside of the U.N. system and cooperates with the U.N. in the Geneva Migration Group.

A single global agency should be created to deal with the wide range of issues surrounding the increasingly important migration phenomenon, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday.

The group proposed creating a World Migration Organization (WMO), similar to the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is inetended to counter fragmentation of agencies worldwide.

Instead, Tthe organization would provide "systematic, coherent, impartial" information of interest for migrants' home countries (popularly known as sender countries), host countries, migrants and civil society, comparable to the WTO's country reports.

Foreign Students being Sought

Despite a soaring international reputation for quality post-secondary education and record numbers of foreign students enrolled across the country, Canada has fallen behind in the race to recruit international scholars. But with three new federal/provincial partnerships launched Oct. 31, 2003, in Manitoba, Alberta and New Brunswick, educational institutions and governments hope to restore Canada to the front of the pack.

"The government intends to make Canada a destination of choice for foreign students," explained Claire Despins, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration.

In Manitoba, where some schools have seen a 40% increase in foreign student enrolment this year alone, 800 international students registered in full-time academic programs who have completed one year of study can now work off campus for up to 20 hours per week.