On 2-3 November 2021 in Paris, EUROMED Migration V and MC2CM, in cooperation with the French Ministry for European and Foreign Affairs and the Club of Venice organised a large-scale event on communicating migration and analysing migration narratives in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Re-defining migration partnerships in the Euro-Mediterranean region and the role of communication and narratives was be the focus of the Euromediterranean Migration Narratives Conference organised by the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), and the Club of Venice (CoV), taking place in Paris on 2 and 3 November 2021 in the framework of EUROMED Migration V (EMM5) and Mediterranean City-to-City Migration (MC2CM), two EU-funded programmes and a flagship initiative of the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission (DG NEAR).
Governments, international organisations and migration policy actors in the Euro-Mediterranean region are seeking a revitalised, comprehensive and holistic approach to migration management after extensive lockdowns, travel restrictions and a shift in political priorities following the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects of on societies, economies and diplomacy. New partnerships are being discussed and initiated, starting with the EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum and the New Agenda for the Mediterranean as part of a renewed partnership with the Southern Neighbourhood. Such partnerships need to be accompanied by concrete communication actions and strategies that take into account all stakeholders’ goals, concerns and challenges while maintaining diplomacy and cooperation among all actors, media organisations and public communicators.
The Conference included:
- The 4th Euromed Migration Communicators Workshop: Following the previous editions in Tunis 2018, Athens in 2019 and online in 2020, this workshop provided professionalization and modernization activities targeted to government officials and public communicators.
- The Urban Communicators Labs, to present and showcase innovative actions implemented at by local actors (both in departure and host cities) to balance and shape migration narratives.
- A High Level Event on migration narratives and communication that brought together distinguished representatives from key organisations dealing with migration narratives in the Euro-Mediterranean region in order to discuss how to work with stakeholders in order to equip them with a larger vision on and identify prioritise related to capacity development and strategic communications.