Publications

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 

The purpose of this ICAT brief is to shed light on the concept of vulnerability and the different dimensions and factors that make a person vulnerable to trafficking in persons while providing recommendations to relevant stakeholders in addressing those factors and mitigating the related risks.

Author: Inter-Agency Coordination Group against TIP (ICAT)

Original title: "Analyse der Zusammenhänge zwischen Schutz, Entwicklungschancen und Entscheidungen über irreguläre Migration in einem Transitland"

On 15 and 16 November 2022, the Ministerial Conference of the Salzburg Forum took place in Bucharest, Romania. ICMPD Director General Michael Spindelegger was invited to speak on behalf of ICMPD. 

Unique collaboration bringing together migration expertise, a local university and the private sector, opens up prospects for the local population, business location and companies

On 10 November 2022, ICMPD and the Kingdom of Morocco signed the Agreement between ICMPD and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco concerning the establishment of the ICMPD’s Representation in the Kingdom of Morocco

Rural communities in North Africa and the Middle East are confronted with a myriad of context-specific challenges. While food security is rising on the global and regional agendas, countries are experiencing a demographic decline in rural areas, important shortcomings in rural development and environmental degradation resulting from resource overexploitation and climate change. For concerned communities, the conjunction and intensification of these trends raises serious questions as to their ability to cope now and in the near future. This study is devoted to the analysis of the migration phenomenon in the South Mediterranean’s rural areas. It focuses on identifying and explaining rural trends of migration, including incoming and returning flows. To do so it draws on a multi-disciplinary and synthetic examination of the situation in five countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The results and recommendations arising from the study are meant to consolidate knowledge on migration in the Euro-Mediterranean region in line with the target 10.7 of the UN sustainable development goals to achieve safe, orderly and regular migration. 
 

This study is carried out within the scope of Enhancement of Entrepreneurship Capacities for Sustainable Socio-Economic Integration (ENHANCER) Project, which is funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

Migration sensitive Local Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (LEE) Analyses have been carried out in 11 provinces of Türkiye; Adana, Ankara, Bursa, Gaziantep, Hatay, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Konya, Mersin, and Şanlıurfa. The distinct feature of these analyses than the ones already conducted is the inclusive approach for Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP). Through ecosystem analyses, the challenges and opportunities for the SuTP entrepreneurs as well as of their relations with ecosystem actors have been identified and policy recommendations are presented for improvement of local entrepreneurship ecosystem focusing on SuTP entrepreneurs.

Emotions are regularly cited as vital components of effective strategic communication in the world of migration and beyond. However, until this report, there was relatively little guidance about how emotions should be used in migration policy communication. Emotions are vital to persuasion because attitudes have a cognitive (thinking) component and an emotional (feeling) component. Moreover, eliciting emotions causes involuntary but predictable physiological and behavioural reactions. Emotions can be used in communication to make one’s messages more resonant and impactful on both attitudes and behaviours, supporting policy objectives via persuasion.

Communicators should choose the desired emotional reaction according to the desired physiological and behavioural reaction using existing psychological schema, one of which this report analyses with 32 separate emotions and physiological reactions. Eliciting unsuitable emotions may have adverse reactions from audiences. Communicators can use this report’s recommendation and framework to ensure that the emotions, physiological and desired behaviours of their campaigns are aligned and thus effective. Narratives, personal-based messages, facial expressions, body language, and aesthetics can be used to create emotional resonance and reduce psychological distance. Frames, ordering (“emotional flow”), intensities, and certain combinations can also be used to elicit different emotions with predictable outcomes.

Emotions should be used to make one’s argument more resonant but the argument should not be simply based on the emotional reaction—the “appeal to emotion” logical fallacy. Indeed, for emotion-based communication to work, it should also use facts, values, identities, and efficacy. Emotion-based communication in the field of migration, although widely used, is largely untested—communicators should test different approaches but also can take lessons from other fields such as corporate, health, and climate change communications.

This report critically analyses 10 examples of good emotion-based migration communication, highlighting the different emotions and physiological reactions that they are likely to induce, and to what extent these are in line with the communication campaign’s stated objectives.

This trend assessment is part of an ongoing series launched by ICMPD’s Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate. These assessments analyse emerging trends related to the field of migration based on expert opinions and ICMPD’s knowledge and insight on the subject in the context of changing geopolitical situations and external shocks that may influence existing trends of migration. In this vein, this study examines the relationship between food security in Tunisia, compounded by the recent war in Ukraine, and migration in the region.

The Regional Migration Outlook for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) presents an analysis of the key events and trends that shaped migration in the EECA region in 2022. Simultaneously, it offers a cautious outlook into areas and issues that may affect migration and mobility to, within and from the EECA in 2023. In a non-exhaustive way, the publication addresses developments in the twelve EECA countries (based on ICMPD’s regional division) – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The analysis is based on ICMPD’s regional expertise and desk research from official and public data sources.