News

On 15 April, ICMPD hosted a meeting of the Network of Anti-Trafficking Coordinators of South-East Europe to discuss the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the trafficking in human beings and the anti-trafficking response in the countries of South-East Europe.

As the coronavirus has upended life as we know it around the globe, asylum systems have not been spared. With national governments acting in different ways to stem its spread, the pandemic has resulted in a series of measures that have far-reaching consequences for asylum systems and applicants for international protection.

Due to Covid-19 lockdown, the importance of ‘key workers’ performing ‘systemically relevant’ jobs is clearer. Many of these are migrants, most of them are women. An ICMPD data survey illustrates the importance of refugees to alleviate the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Sars-CoV-2 (Covid-19) is doing to travel and migration what the 2008 financial crash did to banks and the flow of capital. Instead of a ‘credit crunch’, the world economy is crippled by a global mobility shutdown. The road back will not be easy.

Commissioned under the EU-funded EUROMED Migration IV (EMM4) programme, this study intends to comprehensively map and classify existing statistical sources on migration in the Euro-Med region.

In the context of increased polarisation of the migration topic among the public and policy sphere in Europe, communication on migration has gained importance: In order to reduce information gaps, build trust and gain acceptance for migration policies, innovative ways of engaging the public are needed. An initiative from Austria lends itself as a good example.

On 12 March the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) is implementing a number of measures as of 11 March, 2020 to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 to vulnerable groups, to safeguard the health of employees and of its business partners and to contribute to the efforts of the authorities to addressing the pandemic.

The EU-India Cooperation and Dialogue on Migration and Mobility project has published the "Prepare for your study in Europe check-list". The checklist seeks to empower Indian students to ask the right questions and make decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information on preparation, pre-departure and post-graduation issues.

Bolstering gender sensitive approaches within Lebanese Security Agencies has been a top priority for ICMPD’s Netherlands’ Assistance Project ever since its development. Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Lebanon, a fervent believer in the value of active female participation, the Project has strived to shape its whole assistance in a way that favours female inclusion and empowerment.

This year’s Brdo Process Ministerial meeting, held on 4 March 2020, was dedicated to the regional cooperation in the fight against trafficking in human beings and the measures for prevention and investigation of online child sexual abuse.

Form 28-4 July 2020 the International Summer School on Migration will take place in Georgia. The summer school is organised and implemented by the ENIGMMA 2 project and the Prague Process Dialogue Analyses and Training in Action.

An assessment of the Ghanaian border management and security system was conducted from 18-28 February 2020, in the framework of the "Strengthening Border Security in Ghana" project (SBS Ghana), funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) and implemented by ICMPD.

On 24 February 2020, ICMPD’s Director General was a panelist at the High-Level Panel Discussion "A New Balanced Narrative on Migration – Attaining rights-based migration policy through a balanced public debate on migration" in Geneva.

From 10 to 14 February 2020, representatives from the Lithuanian Government’s Office, Invest Lithuania, the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior, the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour attended a study visit under the EU-funded project "TALENTAS – Developing a strategy for the implementation of talent policy in Lithuania".

On 9 February, the first interactive TRAFIG stakeholder workshop took place in Irbid, Jordan. It kicked off a series of events in the TRAFIG focus countries. This first workshop aimed to discuss viable policy options and good practices and supports the identification of possible solutions to protracted displacement.