News

The Forced-Return Monitoring III (FReM III) project just released a report on the Assessment of the Day-to-Day Operations and Management of the Pool of Forced-Return Monitors at Frontex. The assessment was based on a multi-method study.

The signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) took place in a virtual meeting on 19 November 2020. This step will contribute to strengthening the ongoing cooperation.

A new cooperation framework between ICMPD and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) enhances and facilitates effective cooperation on matters related to asylum and migration management between the two long-standing partners.

On 10-11 November 2020, the 3rd Euro-Mediterranean Communicator’s Workshop was held in the framework of the DG NEAR flagship initiative EUROMED Migration IV (EMM4). The event was organized in collaboration with the Club of Venice and follows the success of the previous editions held in Tunis in 2018 and Athens in 2019. This year, the event took place in an online format due to the travel restrictions imposed by the current COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday 9 November, the Embassy of Switzerland in Lebanon, the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), and ICMPD, launched a cycle of gender awareness sessions at the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Military Academy in Beirut for the second year cadets enrolled in 2020. This is the first promotion in which women and men train together as officers at the Academy.

On 5th November, the State Secretariat for Migration of Switzerland and ICMPD held a meeting on recent approaches in addressing radicalisation. This was the latest in a series of virtual meetings as part of ICMPD’s Annual Policy Initiative 2020 (API).

"Schengen, asylum reform and Europe’s migration diplomacy: Has COVID-19 changed everything?" Now in its fifth year, the Vienna Migration Conference organised by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), will for the first time take place online, in a production adapted specially for the pandemic on 16-19 November 2020.

A ceremony for the signing of Country Cooperation Agreement between Pakistan and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) took place at the Embassy of Pakistan, Vienna, Austria on 10 November 2020.

ICMPD has released the "Study on Libyans living abroad: Profiling of Libyans living abroad to develop a roadmap for strategic and institutional engagement", which was developed within the framework of the EU-funded "Strategic and institutional management of migration in Libya" project. The Financial Times observed in an editorial in January 2015 that "(T)the Libyan diaspora, a repository of enormous talent, remains largely untapped ". The aim of this research is hence to shed light on this little explored community and on the current institutional framework for their engagement. This study is designed to serve as first step towards developing Libya’s engagement strategy towards Libyans living abroad.

ICMPD’s SUMMIT Project organised a meeting titled "Policy Recommendations to Increase the Participation of Syrian Migrants in Şanlıurfa into the Labour Markets and Inclusive Investment Incentive and Support Strategy at the Regional Level" on 3 November 2020 with the participation of Turkish and Syrian business owners.

Trafficking in human beings (THB) is a global phenomenon. Turkey has continuously improved its anti-trafficking response since early 2000s to prevent this crime and to support victims of trafficking and persons at risk. After its establishment in 2013, the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) under the Ministry of Interior became the main coordinator institution in the identification, protection of trafficked persons and provision of support services to the victims.

In the framework of its mandate, the EUROMED Migration IV (EMM4) project held on 4 November 2020 a webinar titled "Migrant Vulnerabilities along the Mediterranean Migration Routes: A Perspective on Structural Challenges and Current Developments", at the request of the EMM4 national focal points.

From 28 to 29 October 2020, European Union experts jointly with the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) and the State Customs Service (SCS) of Ukraine completed the first field assessment mission to the border crossing point (BCP) Yahodyn–Dorohusk at the Ukrainian–Polish border.

On 20 October 2020 ICMPD completed a mission to Afghanistan where fruitful meetings were held with His Excellency First Vice President Amrullah Saleh as well as the Ministers and Deputy-Ministers responsible for Foreign Affairs, Labour & Social Affairs, Refugees & Repatriation, and Peace. Moreover, ICMPD met with the Afghan Border Police, the EU Delegation in Kabul, the Aga Khan Development Network as well as the Danish, Dutch and German representations to Afghanistan.

On 23 October 2020, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) organised a webinar in the framework of the EU-funded Forced-Return Monitoring III (FReM III) project. During the webinar, the FReM III project team at ICMPD presented the main results and recommendations of the assessment of how the pool of forced-return monitors (Pool) currently functions.