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ICMPD field operatives track the ramifications of Covid-19 for migration in more than 90 countries. Over the past weeks, they have reported on developments in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan. Here are some of the most important.

Migration ranks among the most important and contested public policy issues in many countries. In this context, the policy development process is often far away from the ‘ideal scenario’ and prone to being influenced by election cycles, public opinion or crisis situations.

Free movement of labour within the EU has led to unprecedented possibilities for EU citizens to improve their lives by moving to higher-income EU Member States. The consequences for Member States who are mostly origin countries have so far received little attention. Facing increasing challenges on their domestic labour markets, a number of EU Member States have started to develop policies in order to attract back citizens to the country.

In the past years, the terms migration and crisis have been closely linked to one another in public discourse, especially since the so-called European migration and asylum crisis of 2015/16, when Europe witnessed a significant increase of inflows of people fleeing, inter alia, war and instability in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. In this situation the EU and its Member States faced a wide range of challenges, including an overburdening of institutional capacities, the unpredictability of the migration routes and scope of inflows, as well as political disagreements on the distribution of applicants for international protection. Such crisis situations can severely impact public perception of migration and policy-making, but also provide an important learning opportunity that allows us to draw lessons on the migration and asylum systems currently in place and what is needed in terms of crisis preparedness and contingency planning.

The EU is strongly divided over the question of how to address international protection within the EU. The high numbers of mixed flows arriving at the borders of the EU in 2015/2016, transiting through several EU Member States (MS) and eventually seeking refuge in a handful of destination countries showed how vulnerable the EU's migration and asylum system is.

In October 2019, the first multiannual framework kicking off the development of the Common European Asylum System, the Tampere Programme, celebrates its 20th anniversary. Since then, three further multiannual programmes followed: the Hague Programme, the Stockholm Programme and the European Agenda on Migration. Each of the programmes emerged from very specific situations – either dominated by the accession of new Member States to the EU or by an increased inflow of applicants for international protection. During all these years, the vision of Tampere remained untouched; but is it still shared and backed by all of today’s EU Member States? This article is an extract of a chapter taken from the working paper “Harmonising asylum systems in Europe – a means or an end per se?” published in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 funded research project, CEASEVAL and is accessible at its webpage.

References to skills of refugees with the aim of creating pathways for protection can be found in the context of the Global Compact on Refugees. But they were (at least initially) also intended to lead to a more purposeful relocation of asylum seekers from Italy or Greece to other EU MS under the EU relocation programme which ran from September 2016 until September 2018. Recently, several publications additionally addressed the question of refugee protection and a possible connection with labour market considerations.

In terms of global protracted displacement, it is major refugee-hosting countries within the region of conflict who shoulder the majority of the responsibility for responding to the needs of refugees. Such countries have development challenges of their own, and the international community should support them in maximising the potential benefits and mitigating the challenges associated with hosting refugees.

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.

18 October 2016 was the 10th EU Anti-Trafficking Day. In a three-part blog series, ICMPD analysed challenges and future priorities for the EU and its Member States in combating trafficking in human beings. In view of the forthcoming EU Anti-Trafficking Strategy, we're looking at current anti-trafficking efforts in the context of global migration trends and policies, asking the question of how current debates might shape anti-trafficking in the coming years.

18 October 2016 is the 10th EU Anti-Trafficking Day. In a three-part-blog series, ICMPD analyses challenges and future priorities for the EU and its Member States in combating trafficking in human beings. In view of the forthcoming EU Anti-Trafficking Strategy, we're looking at current anti-trafficking efforts in the context of global migration trends and policies, asking the question of how current debates might shape anti-trafficking in the coming years.

The Common European Asylum System is in the process of being reformed. What about the system needs to change and can an agreement of the EU Member States be expected? A review of the Commission’s new policy proposal.

Following up on the first informal thematic session entitled “Human rights of all migrants, social inclusion, cohesion and all forms of discrimination, including racism, xenophobia and intolerance that took place 8-9 May in Geneva, we are featuring selected examples and illustrations in this blog. We feature selected local level examples and illustrations to offer inspiration and help inform the discussion and debate on how the global compact for migration can set out to address its commitments in the fields of human rights, social inclusion and cohesion, battling discrimination and intolerance.

On 12-13 October 2017, the global migration compact process continues in Geneva with the sixth informal thematic session on irregular migration and regular pathways, including decent work, labour mobility, and recognition of skills and qualifications. UN Member States, intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental and civil society actors will gather to collect input and recommendations on these topics to inform the development of the global compact on migration.

This year will be remembered as the year in which an unprecedented number of arrivals of refugees and migrants lead to a crisis in the EU. This blog gives a chronological overview of key incidences and policy responses by selected European countries.

State cooperation on migration and mobility has intensified significantly in the last decade, not least at the regional level where it can take the shape of fully-fledged formal mobility frameworks, such as free movement within the European Union, or economic cooperation frameworks that only facilitate specific aspects of mobility, or informal migration dialogues, such as Rabat Process or Budapest Process.

Only a few weeks left until the European Council’s imposed deadline for finding an agreement on the third generation of the CEAS will be due. At the centre of discussions, once more, is the Dublin proposal.

On 29 January 2018 the AU adopted the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Establishment, and its Implementation Roadmap. The movement of people for work and trade is central to the AU’s mission of economic integration, which it views as a key pathway to development. The drive for the continental free movement of persons originates from the Organisation for African Unity Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa, 1980-2000, and is perpetuated by leading AU development instruments, including the Abuja Treaty, Agenda 2063, and the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.

Just recently, discussions on the future of the Dublin Regulation have come to a halt. The Bulgarian presidency reacted by installing an expert group to elaborate a zero draft on the future of the Dublin system. To recall, the Dublin Regulation is one of the core instruments of what is altogether referred to as the “Common European Asylum System (CEAS)”. All key CEAS instruments (the Asylum Procedures Directive, the Qualification Directive, the Reception Conditions Directive as well as the Regulation on the European Asylum Support Office (EASO)), are under discussion again along with the Dublin Regulation. The new legal framework shall find an agreement by the end of the Bulgarian presidency in June 2018.

The approach of states to managing immigration and asylum relies to a significant extent on the assignment of categories to people entering from abroad. Yet many adults and children travelling along migration routes do not fit neatly into just one of these categories. A new ICMPD Working Paper examines the challenges, and some possible ways forward, in dealing with the nexus between asylum, migrant smuggling and human trafficking in mixed migration contexts.

How can migration partnerships be improved to strengthen migration cooperation and governance? 

Community sponsorship’s ability to foster networks for refugee support lies at the core of its value proposition. How can network building enable the potential of community sponsorship to be more fully tapped?

Takeaways from the Vienna Migration Conference 2021, held 19-20 October 2021

Geopolitics is accelerating reform of the EU’s border and asylum regime. An external European frontier that once only existed on paper is taking shape. And Lukashenko’s hybrid attack may have accidentally given birth to the Union’s migration foreign policy.

Increasing the enrolment and retention of international refugee students can offer European countries and labour markets future talented workers, while at the same time expanding mobility opportunities that enable refugees to develop their skills and access employment opportunities.