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ENHANCER Project Expanded to Include Employment Activities - Final contracts under FRIT II funds have been officially signed on December 17, 2020, including the expansion of ENHANCER Project to cover job creation activities.

It is February 2024. Ahead of elections to the European Parliament, several commentators are pointing to the unlikely success of the EU’s migration policy. How did it happen?

It is February 2024. Ahead of elections to the European Parliament, several commentators are pointing to the unlikely success of the EU’s migration policy. How did it happen?

The Mediterranean City-to-City Migration (MC2CM) issued a new Thematic Learning Report drawing on the results of the regional event held online and hosted by Municipality of Seville and the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI) from 15 to 18 June 2020.

Analysing survey data on recently settled refugees in Austria, two new studies by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) show that young people, women, and people with higher levels of qualification were strongly affected by the Corona crisis in the labour market.

On 24 January 2024, Greece and ICMPD jointly organised a high-level event titled “A holistic approach for balanced migration partnerships” in Brussels. The event marked the handover of the Chairmanship of ICMPD’s Steering Group from Türkiye to Greece with speeches by Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı, Permanent Delegate of Türkiye to the EU, and Ambassador Ioannis Vrailas, Permanent Representative of Greece to the EU. Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dimitrios Kairidis, Minister for Migration and Asylum of Greece, and ICMPD Director General Michael Spindelegger participated in the panel discussion moderated by ICMPD’s Brussels Mission Director Ralph Genetzke. Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas delivered closing remarks.

On 19 June, Michael Spindelegger, ICMPD Director General, attended the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and took part in the high-level panel “Humanitarian Approach towards Refugees and Migrants”. On the panel, he was joined by Mr Antonio Vitorino (IOM Director General), Dr. Kerem Kinik (Red Crescent/IFRC) and Dr. Savaş Ünlü (Director DGMM Turkey). Andrea Sanke moderated the panel.

During 20-21 October, the Ombudsman Office, in coordination with the Moldovan Bureau for Migration and Asylum, carried out the first forced return monitoring mission in country’s history. Forced-return monitoring aims to ensure human rights compliance during the removal operations with a view to increase transparency and accountability.

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.

On 20-23 February, the SCOP project organised a study visit on migration and digitalisation for the representatives of the Inspectorate General for Migration (IGM) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova, in Tallinn, Estonia.

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.

The Strengthening Border Security in Ghana (SBS Ghana)  project, funded by European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), organised a welcome ceremony, for four beneficiary organisations. They received a four hundred thousand Euro (€400,000) grant to implement activities that will support and contribute to innovative approaches on mobility issues and border management, in Ghana. This grant follows the first grant of € 300,000 awarded to three Ghanaian CSOs in August 2021.

On 14-15 April 2024, a workshop on International Cooperation was convened in collaboration with the European Union Advisory Mission to Iraq (EUAM-I) and the National Security Advisory of Iraq within the framework of Iraq's National Integrated Border Management (IBM) Strategy in Baghdad.