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Lack of access to services and information, including changed border processes, repatriations, poor health care, among other factors, place South Asian migrants at risk. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability of Afghan, Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants, and rendered accurate information even more necessary. ICMPD’s Migrant Resource Centres reach out and provide reliable information to empower migrants in an effort to address this challenge.

The project "Strengthening Border Security in Ghana" (SBS Ghana), funded by the EU through the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), provided emergency relief equipment to the Ghana Immigration Service, to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and enhance GIS capacity to better respond to future emergencies.

On 3 August 2020, ICMPD handed over two stationary thermal fever screening systems worth around EUR 30,000 to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) working on the front-line of pandemic, processing travels to and from Ukraine.

The EU-funded Integrated Border Management in the Silk Routes (IBM Silk Routes) project has provided Iraq’s border agencies with personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies to help combat the spread of coronavirus.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic many organisations sounded the alarm for protecting the rights of the most vulnerable categories of population, including victims of human trafficking. With little tangible data available at the time of the outbreak, now is the right time to take stock of the impact and plan the next steps.

The widespread national lockdowns witnessed since March 2020 unveiled the fragility of international cooperation. As Secretariat to four major Migration Dialogues, ICMPD and their respective Chairs mobilised Dialogues’ rich experience, knowledge and networks to counter fragmented responses to a crisis that goes beyond health and the economy.

Within the framework of the EU-funded ENIGMMA 2 project, an online Presentation of the "Guideline on Migration Legislation in Italy" was held as a live-stream event on the official Facebook page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia on 8 July 2020.

On 21 and 23 July 2020, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) organised two remote workshops on the training for forced-return monitors in Georgia and Ukraine within the framework of the EU-funded project Forced-Return Monitoring III (FReM III).

In the framework of the EUROMED Migration IV programme, ICMPD has released, together with the Observatory of Public Attitudes to Migration (OPAM - EUI), the third and last chapter of the report entitled "Impact of Public Attitudes to migration on the political environment in the Euro-Mediterranean Region".

In the framework of the EU funded project EU Support for the effective management of green and blue borders in Albania (EU4SAFEALB) implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the assessment mission took place in Albania between 6 to 17 July 2020. 

Dhaka and Cumilla: Within the framework of EU-funded projects, ICMPD has facilitated the procurement and delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE) to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh

The EU-funded Integrated Border Management in the Silk Routes (IBM Silk Routes) project has provided Afghanistan’s border agencies with personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies to help combat the spread of coronavirus.

The project "ATENÇÃO Brasil: enhancing the capacity of the Brazilian government to tackle TIP" has published two guides to prevent and combat trafficking in persons as well as to protect victims of trafficking. These guides seek to support professionals of the justice system and the assistance and protection networks in Brazil to better identify, protect and refer TIP victims as well as to investigate and prosecute this crime.

On 8th July, State Secretariat for Migration of Switzerland and International Centre for Migration Policy Development, organised an expert meeting for Member States in the framework of its Annual Policy Initiative 2020 (API). This expert meeting was part of a series of events under the API that delves into different aspects of the increasingly complex relationship between migration and security - including border management, protection, security along migration routes and integration.

On 9 July 2020 ICMPD hosted a high-level public webinar on "the future of the AU-EU partnership on migration and mobility in light of the COVID-19 pandemic". Distinguished panellists discussed the key issues related to the effects of COVID-19 on migration, mobility and displacement in Africa as well as its implications for the AU-EU Migration Partnership.