Director General elect Susanne Raab stressed the need for genuine alternatives for migrants to ensure access to legal pathways, to protect them from human traffickers and migrant smugglers. Ms Raab emphasised this at the second International Conference of the Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling in Brussels on 10 December; which opened with a Keynote Speech by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
EU Commissioners Maria Luís Albuquerque (Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union), Magnus Brunner (Internal Affairs and Migration), and Jozef Síkela (International Partnerships) joined President von der Leyen; along with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (on video), Europol Executive Director Catherine De Bolle, and several EU and non-EU ministers.
Ms Raab opened the high-level session that featured the EU’s achievements and programmes using innovative approaches, practical cooperation, and targeted programming in addressing migration and labour market challenges.
Persistent skills mismatches hinder legal labour mobility and leave many migrants vulnerable to the false promises of smugglers. Cracking down on smuggling networks must be part of a broader, holistic strategy that ensures functioning border management as a foundation for both security and cross-border exchange. It should also support effective and sustainable return and reintegration; as well as strengthen the link between development, economic cooperation, and viable labour mobility options.she said.
Ms Raab joined panellists Albanian Minister of Internal Affairs HE Albana Koçiu, Côte d’Ivoire Minister of Interior and Security HE Vagondo Diomandé, Jordanian Minister of Interior HE Mazin Al Farrayeh, Portuguese Minister of the Presidency HE António Leitão Amaro; as well as Cyprus Deputy Minister of Migration HE Nicholas Ioannides, and HE Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.
Drawing on their respective examples and experiences in the field, they discussed how public-private partnerships, skills development, and mobility schemes can contribute to sustainable migration governance. They also explored how such efforts can be replicated or scaled across regions. Finding alternatives to irregular migration is also about countering the narratives of the smugglers, laying the groundwork for legal labour mobility options, and focussing on regional development and migration governance for safe return and sustainable reintegration.
Ms Raab referred to ICMPD’s work in its Migrant Resource Centres, to provide advice on legal migration opportunities and raise awareness about the risks associated with irregular migration and the use of illegal services. She also cited ICMPD’s support for countries in the ECOWAS region in strengthening regional free movement, a vital approach in creating real and sustainable alternatives to irregular migration, especially through investment, training partnerships, and the involvement of the private sector.
The ICMPD Director General elect also presented ICMPD initiatives that lay the groundwork for legal labour mobility options that are of key importance, such as the Migration Partnership Facility, which works closely with European and international partners to align vocational training standards, a crucial step in creating legal pathways. She also presented the recently launched “Rapid Response Initiative” that ICMPD is supporting in the context of the Global Alliance, to counter emerging misinformation, disinformation, and misleading online narratives that have been preying on (potential) migrants with fake job postings.
Ms Raab will assume office as ICMPD’s next Director General on 1 January 2026, having been elected to the position by the organisation’s Member States in June this year.
The full list of themes and speakers of the launch event can be accessed here.
