Opening the 2015 IOM CSO Annual Consultations with the theme, Protecting and positively impacting migrant lives, IOM Director General Ambassador William Lacy Swing described this as one of the most important meetings that the IOM hosts each year. “This gathering is very important to this organization and is particularly crucial at this point in time as we face unprecedented challenges dealing with the current migration and refugee emergency. We have to work closely together to deal with what I would not call a migrant crisis but a systemic crisis in dealing with this emegency.”