News

ICMPD DG Michael Spindelegger was a panellist at the High-Level Policy Forum on Migration and Integration, which took place on 16 January at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, France. The Forum was organised back to back with the first-ever OECD Ministerial Meeting on Migration and Integration, taking place the day after the Forum.

On 20th of December, the European Union Delegation in Turkey hosted the signature ceremony of the contribution agreement for the ENHANCER Project (Enhancement of Entrepreneurship Capacities for Sustainable Socio-Economic Integration), under the European Union Facility for Refugees in Turkey II funds. This 4-year project marks one of the largest projects to be implemented by ICMPD, with a total budget of 26,358,336 EUR.

From 16-18 December 2019, UNHCR together with Switzerland hosted the first -ever Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. ICMPD’s Director Michael Spindelegger met with a number of ICMPD’s partners and high-level officials during the event.

On 9-12th December 2019, ICMPD organised a four day long National Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Governance and Operational Settings Workshop in Ankara.

On 11 December 2019, stakeholders from the youth work and integration fields met in Vienna to exchange good practices in the field of cross-sectoral cooperation. ICMPD hosted an international forum with participants from Austria, Belgium, Germany and Sweden to improve relations between the two sectors.

On the 1-3 December 2019, ICMPD welcomed Deputy Ministers of Finance, Defence, Transport and Refugees and Repatriation from Afghanistan as part of a multi-agency delegation participating in the first formal meeting to develop a National Integrated Border Management Strategy and Action Plan for Afghanistan in Istanbul, Turkey.

ICMPD and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) organised two trainings of trainers (ToT) on the newly developed fundamental rights and forced-return monitoring training for escort officers in Member States (MS). Both the trainings took place in the framework of the Forced-Return Monitoring III (FReM III) project in Warsaw on 27-28 and 28-29 November 2019, respectively.

On 11-12 November 2019, the second Euro-Mediterranean Communicator’s Workshop and a high-level event on public communication and migration and were held in Athens, Greece in the framework of the EUROMED Migration IV (EMM4) programme. The joint event was hosted by the Greek Ministry for Citizen Protection, General Secretariat for Migration Policy, Reception and Asylum of the Hellenic Republic and co-organised with the Club of Venice.

In Amman, on November 18, ICMPD together with the Government of Jordan, the European Union (EU), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), launched the Integrated Border Management (IBM) project.

From 21-22 November, ICMPD hosted the Vienna Migration Conference for the fourth time. Entitled "Breaking the gridlock and moving forward: recommendations for the next five years of EU migration policy" the conference aimed to progress the dialogue on migration policy in the next 5 years. The conference took place at the Aula of Sciences in Vienna and hosted 5 ministers and a record-number of participants.

In Lisbon on 9 and 10 November 2019, the EU Global Diaspora Facility (EUDiF) organised its first activity, the ‘Diaspora Consultation: Southwest Europe’.

In its fourth year, the "Vienna Migration Conference" organised by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), convenes a broad number of decision makers and key stakeholders to discuss pragmatic, constructive and future-oriented recommendations for the next five years of migration policy making in and for Europe.

Within the EU funded project Forced-Return Monitoring III (FReM III), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) organised the 2nd Training for Forced-Return Monitors on 11-15 November 2019 in Rome. The training was hosted by the Office of the National Guarantor for the Rights of the Persons Detained or Deprived of Liberty in Italy – one out of 22 FReM III project partner countries – and organised jointly with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).

ICMPD and ILO organised a Listening Session for the European Higher Education Virtual Fair India 2019 (EHEVF 2019) in conjunction with ICM at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi, which gathered 94 students from/around New Delhi.

On 10 and 11 November 2019, the Migration EU eXpertise Initiative, funded by the European Union and implemented by ICMPD, presented the "Guiding Principles for Shelters Working with Victims of Human Trafficking". They are a result from its latest action in support to the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.