Publications

A Baseline Study on Migration Data Management in Azerbaijan has been published by the EU-funded MOBILAZE 2 project. The study was conducted by ICMPD and EU member states’ experts. The main objective of this study is to provide comprehensive insight into the current state and practices of migration data management in the Republic of Azerbaijan, with a particular focus on the existing procedures and tools available for data collection, analysis, and application. The particular gaps and needs observed in this regard are then laid out and recommendations for improvement are given. The MOBILAZE 2 project team would like to thank all participating Azerbaijani state institutions who gave their valuable insight and recommendations for this study. 

New displacement in 2022 pushed the number of people forcibly displaced globally to more than 108 million – more than the populations of Italy and Spain combined. Many forced migrants find themselves in ‘protracted displacement’ situations, where they experience long-term vulnerability, dependency, and legal insecurity, lacking or denied opportunities to rebuild their lives. The EU-funded Transnational Figurations of Displacement (TRAFIG) research project investigated why people fall into protracted displacement situations and what coping strategies they use, with a focus on networks and mobility. Over the course of three years, the TRAFIG team engaged with more than 3,100 people, including displaced persons, policymakers, and practitioners in 11 countries across East Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. This included a survey of 1,900 displaced persons: Congolese persons displaced within the DRC and people who moved from their countries of origin to Ethiopia, Greece, Italy, Jordan, and Pakistan.

TRAFIG research findings underscored the importance of networks for displaced persons looking to secure a sustainable future and for policymakers and practitioners looking to support them, including when it comes to their integration. This paper highlights the role of local networking in settling in and shares how humanitarian, development, and integration actors can take these findings on board in the search for more sustainable solutions to global displacement.

Employment is a vital strategy for refugees from Ukraine seeking to rebuild their lives abroad or sustain themselves until it is safe to return. To this end, the first-ever activation of the EU Temporary Protection Directive provides for immediate access to the EU labour market. However, this is not the only innovation that has emerged since the seismic events of spring 2022, and represents but the first step in facilitating the employment of refugees from Ukraine.

Civil society organisations, private sector actors, and individual volunteers are all playing an active role in helping newcomers to find employment. For their part, many national, regional, and local governments from across Europe have responded with creative approaches. This briefing note details government approaches to boosting employment adopted or adapted in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It focuses on receiving countries in Central and Eastern Europe, which have received a large share of Ukrainian refugees, but, in many cases, have limited recent experience with receiving humanitarian migrants.

In a year full of European, national, and regional elections, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) expects migration to be a pivotal topic. While many governments implement quick fixes ahead of their electoral cycles, opposition parties are tying their campaigns to migration-related promises. ICMPD’s 2024 Migration Outlook report forecasts record displacement levels resulting from war and conflict, leading to a further securitization of migration and offshoring of asylum procedures, as well as a rise in secondary movements. These developments are taking place while labour migration is ‘coming of age’ in Europe.

ICMPD’s Migration Outlook presents a brief analysis of recent migration and policy trends and provides an outlook on developments and events to watch out for in 2024.

As part of the Awareness Raising and Information Campaigns on the Risks of Irregular Migration in Pakistan – II (PARIM-II) project, this report explores the role of returnees in migration decision-making processes and investigates their potential engagement in the design and implementation of migration information and awareness raising campaigns.

The results of PARIM-II project, which are discussed in this report, draw not only from extensive qualitative and quantitative research conducted in the field between August 2023 and January 2024, but also from the previous project (PARIM-I), which looked instead at the migration intentions and information needs of Pakistani nationals wishing to migrate out of the country, including through irregular channels.1 By outlining the results of the current project and combining them with the previous one, this report aims at bringing together, analysing, and discussing the entire research component in a targeted way, providing insights for the potential information campaigns and communication strategies in this area. 

This publication provides a regional perspective to ICMPD’s Migration Outlook 2024, delving into key current and emerging migration trends in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on North Africa and the Middle East.

Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programmes have emerged as a migration governance tool used by many national governments and supranational organisations in the 21st century. They fund—typically irregular or stranded—migrants to return to their origin countries whereafter they provide support aimed at “sustainable reintegration”. AVRR reintegration support is classified by the International Organization for Migration, which administers around 95% of AVRR programmes globally, as “economic”, “social”, and “psycho-social”. However, AVRR programmes have received several criticisms from academics and activists. The academic literature on measuring reintegration, identifying the causes of reintegration success, and identifying the causes of AVRR participation are nascent but provide a basis by which policymakers can understand how to improve AVRR outcomes. Therefore, this study identifies how communication can contribute to AVRR objectives.

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 2023. Simultaneously, it offers a cautious outlook into areas and issues that may affect migration and mobility to, within and from EECA in 2024. 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.

This policy brief considers the displacement and forced migration inside and outside Ukraine’s international border, the dynamics of these movements, the individuals’ aspirations and the possible future developments in migration trends while reassessing scenarios developed in 2022.

This document has been created following the discussions among - and inputs from - participants of the Prague Process Workshop held in Tbilisi in October 2023, highlighting best practices, key success factors and stumbling blocks to digitalising the various aspects of the migration management cycle, as well as providing some recommendations for next steps. The Workshop focused on the increased role of digitalisation, and how this can be deployed to assist in migration management.

The Ukrainian diaspora emerged as a crucial and proactive force in responding to the crisis following the Russian military attack on Ukraine in February 2022, playing a pivotal role in various aspects of humanitarian aid and support efforts. The Ukrainian diaspora was quick and efficient, mobilising resources, both financial and organisational, to provide immediate assistance to Ukrainian refugees who sought shelter in different parts of the world, particularly in European countries. Through establishing numerous organisations and collaborations with international entities, the diaspora engaged in activities such as humanitarian aid, legal assistance, healthcare provisions, educational support and social integration initiatives for displaced Ukrainians. The report on the Role of Ukrainian Diaspora in Crisis Response, Future Return and Reconstruction of Ukraine: Case Study from Germany, Czech Republic and Poland aims to analyse the activities of Ukrainian diaspora organisations and migrant communities in the three destination countries as well as demonstrate the diaspora’s role as a cornerstone for shaping a hopeful and prosperous future for Ukraine. The report was completed by Dr. Valeria Lazarenko (PhD) and edited by the project implementation team. 

This work was designed to shed light on past and current dynamics that influence international migration (from and within the region), gather the perspectives and analyse the narratives of Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC) in an attempt to understand the reasons that underpin the mobility of unaccompanied and separated children from and within the region, also with a view to provide recommendations on how to better provide for their specific needs in different contexts. The study placed a special emphasis on 3 selected countries in the MENA region (Morocco, Jordan and Lebanon) while valuable information and data gathered in 2 European Union (EU) countries, Greece and Spain, were also used.

This report set out to unpack dynamics and characteristics of diaspora engagement policies in the MENA region, drawing on an in-depth review of six countries’ frameworks and Gamlen’s typology of diaspora engagement policies. 

Public communication has the potential to do enormous good for humanity. Regarding migration, public communication can be used to meet widely agreed-upon policy objectives such as safe, orderly, and regular migration. Moreover, it can help governments uphold democratic legal- and rights-based policy frameworks against nefarious forces and contribute to maximising the potential benefits and minimising the potential costs of migration to origin, transit, and host country populations, as well as to migrants themselves. In line with ongoing research from the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the EUROMED Migration programme on how to use public communication to re-balance migration narratives and protect the rights, safety, and opportunities of migrants, this report asks how we can use persuasive communication to achieve policy goals regarding irregular migration. It gathers lessons learned and provides practical recommendations, with a particular focus on the Euro-Mediterranean region and the activities of the European Union.

This report investigates the migration and reintegration experiences of Iraqi returnees, their influence on other people’s decisions about migration, and their potential role in the implementation of migration information campaigns. It does so in the framework of the Migration information and awareness raising on the risks of irregular migration in Iraq (MIRAMI) project, which aims, among other things, at increasing awareness on safe and legal migration and reducing irregular migration from Iraq through changes in perceptions and behaviour of potential migrants as well as of the key influencers of their decisions.

This policy paper explores the potential benefits of expanding mobility opportunities for third-country national youth to EU Member States and presents different options for making this possible. It also presents the potential trade-offs when it comes to programme goals and design and highlights key considerations for those looking to develop and launch new youth mobility schemes.

This background report serves as a foundation within the framework of the Migration Information and Awareness Raising on the Risks of Irregular Migration in Iraq (MIRAMI) Project. Building upon existing experiences and collaborations, such as the Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) established in Baghdad, the MIRAMI Project aims at increasing awareness of safe and legal migration, reducing irregular migration, and improving reintegration support for returnees through the development of targeted migration information campaigns. The project targets various groups, including potential migrants, returnees, families, female migrants, and influencers like community leaders and media representatives. In doing so, MIRAMI contributes to the Iraqi government's vision of sustainable reintegration for returnees, aligning with national strategies for migration management.