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All eyes were on Hungary when it constructed the first border fence on the Western Balkans route in summer 2015 in an attempt to stop migrants and refugees from entering its territory. The fence, however, did not stop the flow, it detoured the people - and so did several other fences built along both the external EU borders as well as within the Schengen area. Despite the limited effect of physically closed borders to stem the flow or solve the migration crisis, countries along the so-called ‘Western Balkans route’ keep on introducing similar measures.

With the increasing mobility of persons and goods in times of fear of terrorism and organised crime, states need to ensure the right balance between open, while at the same time secured and controlled borders. ‘Integrated Border Management’ (IBM) can combine these two objectives.

ICMPD’s Director General Michael Spindelegger went on two missions in the previous week, meeting with the Federal Councillor of Switzerland as well as the Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

This is the second of two articles about Türkiye's approach to migration and the most immediate challenges arising from the ‘refugee crisis’. While the first article analysed EU-Türkiye relations, this blog gives and overview of the institutional set-up of migration management in Türkiye.

As the coronavirus has upended life as we know it around the globe, asylum systems have not been spared. With national governments acting in different ways to stem its spread, the pandemic has resulted in a series of measures that have far-reaching consequences for asylum systems and applicants for international protection.

ICMPD Director General Mr. Michael Spindelegger and Ms. Gurlu Jabborzoda, Minister of of Labour, Migration and Employment of Population (MoLMEP) of Tajikistan have exchanged views on migration issues and signed a Memorandum on Understanding.

On 15 September 2020, the European Union-funded Programme on Border Management in Central Asia (BOMCA) gathered more than 100 high-level stakeholders online to summarise the achievements of thematic work from the five years of the project’s 9th Phase. During the final event, BOMCA presented and disseminated project results and tools for the further strengthening of border management, migration governance, and trade facilitation measures in the Central Asian region.

One of the most significant political summits on migration took place in Valletta, Malta in November 2015, bringing together leaders from a wide range of European and African States and international organisations. Faced with the dramatic increase in irregular migration with all its downsides, the time was ripe to take concrete measures to tackle its root causes. The Rabat- and Khartoum Processes, both implemented by ICMPD, had been assigned the role of monitoring these measures. At the follow-up Senior Officials’ Meeting in February 2017, ICMPD presented the findings of the Rabat and Khartoum Process, providing ground for discussion. The central question now is, if the taken measures have and will continue to have the desired impact. In this article, we’ve summarised the steps taken up until now.

Since 2009, Mobility Partnerships between the EU and partner countries have not only brought concrete benefits to people but also enabled result-driven cooperation and dialogue between states. The Mobility Partnership Facility (MPF) is a programme that started in 2016 aimed at supporting the implementation of Mobility Partnerships (MPs). This article provides, in a nutshell, practical examples for MPs and summarizes the actions available to further realize the full potential of this framework.

On 10 November the Vienna Migration Conference opened in the presence of more than 100 invited senior and high-level representatives from politics, international- and intergovernmental organisations, academia and media. The Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sebastian Kurz, delivered the opening statement to the conference’s high-level political panel entitled "European Migration and Refugee Policies – The Way Ahead". The ICMPD Director General then led the panel discussion on "the progress, gaps and visions for better solutions…".

The surge in the number of refugees and migrants making their way to Europe in 2015 brought the weaknesses of the fragile European migration and protection system to the forefront and indeed led to a virtual collapse of some of its key components, such as the Dublin Regulation. This triggered a policy and political crisis within the European Union as Member States and European Commission found themselves in disagreement over how to effectively handle the situation.

On 10 September, the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment of Population of the Republic of Tajikistan informed ICMPD that the government gave its approval to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ICMPD. This was the positive news that ICMPD received at an online meeting with a high-level delegation from Tajikistan, headed by the Labour Minister Ms. Gurlu Jabborzoda.

On the 2nd of September 2020, the Signing Ceremony of the National AVR Cooperation Protocol has taken place between the Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM), the Turkish Red Crescent (TÜRK KIZILAY), the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

Climate change and migration are both topics at the forefront of European political and societal debates. At a time when the nexus of the two issues is increasingly visible in international discussions and initiatives, ICMPD is analysing the ways in which they intersect.

On 25 August 2020, the project "Strengthening Border and Migration Management in Ghana" (SMMIG), funded by the Danish Embassy in Accra and implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), donated 30 computers, 2 multifunction printers, a 4x4 vehicle, a camera, 2 high-level document verification devices, 3 forensic magnifiers and 320 3-in-1 magnifiers (for examining travel and source documents at the borders) to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).

Kabul: Afghanistan’s capacity to strategically manage its national borders in an effective and efficient manner was bolstered through technical support provided to senior government officials in two events held from 23 – 26 August 2020 in Kabul, with international experts and trainers connecting online

Lack of access to services and information, including changed border processes, repatriations, poor health care, among other factors, place South Asian migrants at risk. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability of Afghan, Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants, and rendered accurate information even more necessary. ICMPD’s Migrant Resource Centres reach out and provide reliable information to empower migrants in an effort to address this challenge.

The project "Strengthening Border Security in Ghana" (SBS Ghana), funded by the EU through the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), provided emergency relief equipment to the Ghana Immigration Service, to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and enhance GIS capacity to better respond to future emergencies.

Due to Covid-19 lockdown, the importance of ‘key workers’ performing ‘systemically relevant’ jobs is clearer. Many of these are migrants, most of them are women. An ICMPD data survey illustrates the importance of refugees to alleviate the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Sars-CoV-2 (Covid-19) is doing to travel and migration what the 2008 financial crash did to banks and the flow of capital. Instead of a ‘credit crunch’, the world economy is crippled by a global mobility shutdown. The road back will not be easy.

Commissioned under the EU-funded EUROMED Migration IV (EMM4) programme, this study intends to comprehensively map and classify existing statistical sources on migration in the Euro-Med region.

In the context of increased polarisation of the migration topic among the public and policy sphere in Europe, communication on migration has gained importance: In order to reduce information gaps, build trust and gain acceptance for migration policies, innovative ways of engaging the public are needed. An initiative from Austria lends itself as a good example.

On May 26, 2020, ICMPD handed over personal protective equipment to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine who are the first point of contact for travellers entering Ukraine.

One of the more sinister aspects of the global pandemic is the spread of deliberately misleading information online. ICMPD’s Regional Office for the Mediterranean considers how disinformation networks work to falsely portray migrants as vectors for the disease.

The first year of implementation of the Horizon 2020 Transnational Figurations of Displacement (TRAFIG) research project received an encouraging review by the donor, the European Commission.