Swedish Police Authority (SPA)
Summary
To strengthen Iraq’s migration governance and reintegration systems (by enhancing capacities for sustainable reintegration, improving evidence-based migration management, and reinforcing border control systems).
The project aims to support both returnees and potential migrants while building resilient institutional frameworks and fostering coordinated, data-driven approaches to migration challenges in line with national priorities and international standards.
The SI-COM II project builds on the achievements and lessons learned from Phase I, as well as the broader NORAQ framework (Nordic Cooperation on Return and Reintegration in Iraq), to address Iraq’s evolving migration governance challenges through a comprehensive and integrated approach. The project supports the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government in developing coordinated, rights-based, and data-driven migration governance systems that align with national priorities and international commitments. By focusing on both returnees and potential migrants, SI-COM II seeks to strengthen reintegration opportunities, reduce the drivers of irregular migration, and enhance institutional resilience to manage migration effectively and sustainably.
Implemented jointly by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), Swedish Migration Agency (SMA), and Swedish Police Authority (SPA), the project adopts a strategic four-component framework that leverages the comparative advantages of each partner while ensuring complementarity and avoiding duplication. The project will support the operationalisation and expansion of Migrant Resource Centres (MRCs), strengthen institutional capacities for migration governance, advance the integration of migration management within Iraq’s digital transformation agenda, and enhance border governance through the establishment of situational awareness mechanisms and implementation of the National Integrated Border Management (IBM) Strategy. Together, these interventions aim to foster a more effective, coordinated, and sustainable migration governance system capable of addressing current and future migration challenges in Iraq.
Specific Objectives:
• SO1: To enhance the capacity of national and local authorities, and MRCs alongside communities to facilitate sustainable reintegration, and to promote labour market reintegration and economic resilience, in line with the principles of safe and orderly migration (through improved governance frameworks, digital systems, and community-based support mechanisms).
• SO2: To strengthen the capacity of Iraqi authorities to ensure safe, orderly, and well-governed migration and border management, including the facilitation of regular labour migration pathways (through enhanced institutional coordination, digital and e-governance systems, and improved infrastructure and technology that support transparency, data-driven decision-making, and the prevention of irregular migration).