and end the sexual exploitation of children. 2003 Amnesty and Human Rights Watch In 2003, both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch was critical of the IOM's role in the Australian government's "Pacific Solution" of transferring asylum seekers to offshore detention centres. Human Rights Watch criticized the IOM for operating Manus Regional Processing Centre and the processing center on Nauru despite not having a refugee protection mandate. Human Rights Watch criticized the IOM for being part of "arbitrary detention" and for denying asylum seekers access to legal advice. Human Rights Watch urged the IOM to cease operation the process centres, which it stated were "detention centres" and to hand management of the centres to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Amnesty International expressed concern that the IOM undertook actions on behalf of governments that negatively impacted the human rights of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. Amnesty International cited an example of fourteen Kurds in Indonesia who were expelled from Australian waters by Australian authorities to relocated to Indonesia. Amnesty International requested an assurance that the IOM will abide by the principle of non-refoulement. 2022 Refugee Council of Australia In 2022, the role that the IOM played in housing refugees in Indonesia was described by the Refugee Council of Australia as presenting a "humanitarian veneer while carrying out rights-violating activities on behalf of Western nations” by researchers Asher Hirsch and Cameron Doig in The Globe and Mail. The community housing that the IOM operated, using Australian government funding was described by the Refugee Council of Australia "inhumane conditions, solitary confinement, lack of basic essentials and medical care, physical and sexual abuse, and severe overcrowding". Rohingya John Joniad described the housing as an "open prison". Member states As of 2021, the International Organization for Migration has 174 member states and 8 observer states. Member states: Observer States: Non-Member States: See also Bibi Duaij Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the IOM Goodwill Ambassador for Kuwait. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also based (like the IOM) in Geneva. Bibliography Andrijasevic, Rutvica; Walters, William (2010): The International Organization for Migration and the international government of borders. In Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 28 (6), pp. 977–999. Georgi, Fabian; Schatral, Susanne (2017): Towards a Critical Theory of Migration Control. The Case of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In Martin Geiger, Antoine Pécoud (Eds.): International organisations and the politics of migration: Routledge, pp. 193–221.