the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which has been hit hard by US foreign aid cuts, is laying off around 20% of staff at its Geneva headquarters, reported RTS.
Around 20% of the organisation’s roughly 1,000 staff based in Geneva are to be cut according to several sources familiar with the situation. One employee told AFP that they thought the number could be even higher.
The news follows significant global staff cuts at the agency last year. At the end of 2024, around 3,000 of its 22,000 global staff were laid off. These people were among around 5,000 who had been working with the US refugee resettlement programme, which has been ended by President Donald Trump’s administration. The agency supports an estimated 280 million migrants across the world.
Staff in Geneva working for IOM’s media department were met individually and told they were sacked. People were coming out crying, reported one member of staff. According to inside sources, the IOM’s information and communications technology division and partnership programme were among the hardest hit divisions.
One employee said that staff with fixed-term contracts were told informally they would be let go in June, while those on other types of contracts would be given 30 days’ notice.
Nearly all of the agency’s funding comes from voluntary contributions for specific programmes. When a donor stops the flow of money it can quickly cripple a programme. Then fast decisions need to made about staff because there is no money to pay them, said a source.
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RTS article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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