Publications

Displacement is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. At the end of 2020, more than 82 million people across the globe were categorised as forcibly displaced, whether remaining within their countries of origin or having crossed an international border. If this group were a country, it would rank 20th in the world in terms of population, right after Germany. An increasing number of refugees – 16 million in 2020, or 4 million more than in 2016 – find themselves in a long-term situation of vulnerability, dependency, and legal insecurity, lacking, or actively denied, opportunities to rebuild their lives. Such situations are termed ‘protracted displacement’. While not captured in these statistics, internally displaced persons (IDPs) may also find themselves in situations of protracted displacement. While the protracted nature of many conflicts is a critical contributing factor, there is considerable room for improvement in policies and practices to more effectively address protracted displacement.

This is where the EU-funded Transnational Figurations of Displacement (TRAFIG) research project has aimed to contribute. Undertaking more than 2,700 interviews with displaced persons, policymakers, and practitioners in 11 countries across the Middle East, East Africa, and Europe, the TRAFIG project investigated the reasons why people end up in protracted displacement situations and what coping strategies they use, thus identifying possible courses of action for policymakers.

This handbook shares 10 takeaways for strengthening policy responses to protracted displacement that have emerged from this endeavour, with empirical examples and policy recommendations, as well as a non-exhaustive list of promising practices for inspiration. These 10 points centre on the TRAFIG project goal of identifying solutions that are better tailored to the needs and capacities of displaced persons.

This study examines expert knowledge and survey data on youth aspirations in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia to see how the EU's Talent Partnerships might be used to increase youth employment and mobility within and from these countries.

External authors

Algeria: Yasmine Musette

Libya: Mustapha Kaaniche

Morocco: Hajar El Moukhi

Tunisia: Wajih Khallouli

Migration information campaigns have become a popular policy mechanism amongst donors and implementers to deter irregular migration. With the increasing number of information campaigns introduced in countries of origin, attention is also being focused towards the design of these campaigns, including considerations on engaging people that can act as “credible messengers” or “key influencers” to convey the content of the campaign. It is in this line that campaign funders and designers are exploring the potential of involving diaspora members as messengers in information campaigns. Backed by a dedicated research study on diaspora engagement in information campaigns under the PARIM project, this policy brief questions the assumptions behind engaging diaspora members as “credible messengers”. One major assumption is that since potential migrants rely on friends and family abroad for their migration process, following the same principle, they would be more receptive to information received through diaspora members in campaigns. However, this policy brief argues that diaspora members engaged in campaigns are imperfect proxies for potential migrants’ friends and family abroad. With this caveat, it presents certain considerations to take into account when designing a migration information campaign that involves diaspora members as messengers.

This report is the first of a series of studies produced under the ‘Strengthening Capability for Integrated Border Management in Lebanon’ (EU-IBM III) project funded by the European Union. The purpose of the report is to have a better understanding on the conflict issues and dynamics in the border areas of the Northern and Eastern Governorates in Lebanon to inform further assistance to border communities.

Developed by Dr. Michel Douaihy (researcher) and peer reviewed by Rania Skaine, ICMPD Border Management and Security (BMS) Program expert

The sixth edition of the Vienna Migration Conference (VMC) took place on 19-20 October 2021. It provided an indispensable opportunity for thought leaders, decision-makers and practitioners in the migration sphere to convene, connect and engage in strategic discussions on migration.

Ran jointly under the EUROMED Migration V (EMM5) and “EuroMeSco: Connecting the Dots” projects, the survey “Towards sustainable and mutually beneficial migration partnerships in the South Mediterranean” aims at reflecting on migration partnerships between the EU and Southern Mediterranean countries. This report analyses the main results from this exercise, which was conducted amongst experts on migration from the EU’s South Partner Countries (SPCs) in June and July 2021. It provides new evidence on each country’s understanding on how migration partnerships should be achieved in view to advance cooperation for the benefit of migrants and all communities involved in the process.

Authors: Jenny Gilbert und Alexis Mclean

This study is to an extent a follow-up of a study EUROMED Migration IV programme carried out for the same subregions
in 2015-2016. It takes a different approach but with the same goal of developing a better understanding of
the reality and constraints of traditional and other media and how these elements affect their capacity to tell the
“migration story”.
More specifically, this study investigates how media coverage in some European countries of migration has changed
over the course of the 2019-2020 period, including the impact of social media on migration narratives, polarisation
and journalism, the influence of political dynamics on the media landscape and vice-versa, and the impact of
COVID-19 on migration narratives.

External author: Chris Elliott

Original title: "Prozesse der Arbeitsmarktintegration von Geflüchteten in Österreich. Kurzbericht zur Datenerhebung 2017/2018 (2. Welle) im Projekt FIMAS+INTEGRATION"

Original title: "Prozesse der Arbeitsmarktintegration von Geflüchteten in Österreich. Forschungsbericht der dritten Welle des FIMAS-Flüchtlingssurveys: FIMAS+INTEGRATION2"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

External author: Valentin Daur          

The war in Ukraine has been raging for six months. The number of people who have fled the war in Ukraine only to Europe has passed 6.3 million while more than 6.6 million were displaced internally within Ukraine. A considerable number of countries, first and foremost Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, but also other countries, including EU members that have been most affected by the influx of people fleeing the war, have made significant efforts to respond to their arrival.

So far, the incidence of human trafficking cases among those fleeing the war in Ukraine has remained insignificant. Still, people who fled the conflict are seeing their personal resources (be of financial or emotional nature) depleted with grimmer perspectives. As their displacement protracts, their vulnerability to exploitation, including trafficking, increases. These vulnerabilities need to be addressed now to avert the descent of a secondary crisis among displaced populations in their host communities later on. The persisting nature of the risks is well illustrated e.g. by ‘huge spikes’ in online searches across multiple languages and countries for explicit content and sexual services from Ukrainian women and girls (OSCE, 2022). 

The existing research by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) has demonstrated how people fleeing the conflict become vulnerable to human trafficking.

In this Policy Brief, we examine the nature of these vulnerabilities and provide guidance as to where the countries hosting the people displaced by the war need to invest their attention and efforts to tackle the increased dangers of human trafficking.

The Policy Brief was prepared by the Anti-trafficking Programme of ICMPD in the framework of the “Prague Process: Dialogue, Analyses and Training in Action” initiative, a component of the Migration Partnership Facility, with the assistance of the European Union.

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and in no way represent the views of the European Union.

The recent European Commission Communication Attracting Skills and Talent to the EU outlined an ambitious agenda of steps to strengthen the Union’s ability to attract and retain international workers, including a proposed EU Youth Mobility Scheme. With the Commission set to explore the feasibility of developing such a scheme, this policy brief contains some initial thoughts on the potential of an interim scheme to support an enabling environment for the bigger policy framework being worked on by the European Commission. A more incremental, low-risk pilot Student Working Holiday Visa scheme would allow for a “proof of concept” that international students want to travel and work in Europe, that they will take up jobs in sectors with seasonal labour shortages and that they will thereafter return to their home country to complete their studies.

With irregular migration high on the EU agenda, governments have increasingly recognized the potential of intervening before and while migrants embark on an irregular journey and providing them with information through awareness-raising activities. Information campaigns thus represent a significant field of investment and action: Individual EU Member States and the European Commission commissioned over 100 migration information campaigns in countries of origin and transit during the 2014-2019 period alone. This policy brief explores how information campaigns can be implemented and further studied to improve their efficacy.

As displacement continues to rise globally, more and more people are ‘stuck’ in situations of protracted displacement, where they find themselves in a long-term situation of vulnerability, dependency and legal insecurity, lacking or actively denied opportunities to rebuild their lives. While the protracted nature of many conflicts is a critical contributing factor, there is considerable room for improvement in policies and practices to more effectively address protracted displacement—and an urgent need to strengthen responses. The complicated ‘maze’ of international, national and local laws, policies and practices often backfires, exacerbating precarity and preventing many displaced persons from finding sustainable solutions for themselves and from contributing to receiving communities. 

It is not only the widening gap between the scale of displacement and the solutions offered but also the diversity of individual profiles and experiences that underscores the urgent need to expand the range of solutions so that more displaced persons can find long-term prospects. A paradigm shift that places people at the heart of solutions, meaning that countries enable displaced persons to make use of their own capacities, would open new doors for people to become ‘self-reliant’. Such an approach is not only vital for addressing existing protracted situations—but it can also help prevent those more recently displaced from finding themselves in protracted situations in the future. This policy brief highlights entry points for European stakeholders seeking solutions for (protracted) displacement.
 

The Common European Asylum System prohibits the mobility of persons entitled to international protection within the European Union, making it more difficult for displaced persons to rebuild their lives even after arriving in Europe and receiving protection status. Recent developments soften this strict policy of immobility for some. In this context, intra-EU mobility based on refugees’ skills could become a game-changer. The tools are there. What is needed now is to connect these initiatives so that more displaced persons can use their skills for their benefit and that of receiving countries. This practice note discusses the different pieces of the puzzle for supporting displaced persons in making use of their skills for their benefit and that of receiving EU countries.

Eleni Diker, Kevin O’Dell, Katrin Marchand, Sevinj Mastiyeva

External Author: 

Franck Düvell