News

On 12 March the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) is implementing a number of measures as of 11 March, 2020 to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 to vulnerable groups, to safeguard the health of employees and of its business partners and to contribute to the efforts of the authorities to addressing the pandemic.

On 12 March the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. In order to support the measures being implemented by our host country, the Republic of Austria, and the other countries where ICMPD has duty stations, we took a number of measures to protect our employees and stop the virus from spreading further, including working from home.

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

On 7 of May 2020 in Kyiv, ICMPD organized a kick-off meeting on business processes analysis and re-engineering thus launching the optimization process of partners’ functionalities. Expert support to national agencies has been rendered through the European Union Project "EU Support to Strengthening Integrated Border Management (IBM) in Ukraine".

Dhaka and Cumilla: Within the framework of EU-funded projects, ICMPD has facilitated the procurement and delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE) to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh

The EU-funded Integrated Border Management in the Silk Routes (IBM Silk Routes) project has provided Afghanistan’s border agencies with personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies to help combat the spread of coronavirus.

The project "ATENÇÃO Brasil: enhancing the capacity of the Brazilian government to tackle TIP" has published two guides to prevent and combat trafficking in persons as well as to protect victims of trafficking. These guides seek to support professionals of the justice system and the assistance and protection networks in Brazil to better identify, protect and refer TIP victims as well as to investigate and prosecute this crime.

On 8th July, State Secretariat for Migration of Switzerland and International Centre for Migration Policy Development, organised an expert meeting for Member States in the framework of its Annual Policy Initiative 2020 (API). This expert meeting was part of a series of events under the API that delves into different aspects of the increasingly complex relationship between migration and security - including border management, protection, security along migration routes and integration.

On 9 July 2020 ICMPD hosted a high-level public webinar on "the future of the AU-EU partnership on migration and mobility in light of the COVID-19 pandemic". Distinguished panellists discussed the key issues related to the effects of COVID-19 on migration, mobility and displacement in Africa as well as its implications for the AU-EU Migration Partnership.

Within the framework of the EU-funded project IBM Phase II in Lebanon, ICMPD facilitated the procurement and delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Lebanese border and security agencies in response to COVID-19 pandemic on 12 June 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon.

On the occasion of the release of ICMPD's Annual Report 2019, we interviewed the Director General and asked some questions on the way forward in migration policy and his future plans for ICMPD.

On June 19, 2020, ICMPD has completed the delivery of two week-long training sessions for the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) and the State Customs Service (SCS) of Ukraine on business process reengineering.

Between 15 and 18 June 2020, the Mediterranean City-to-City Migration project (MC2CM) hosted a 4-day peer-learning event titled" Communication on Migration: Rebalancing the Narrative to Strengthen Local Governance" with over 50 participants from 22 local administrations across the Euromediterranean region and beyond.

On 3 August 2020, ICMPD handed over two stationary thermal fever screening systems worth around EUR 30,000 to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) working on the front-line of pandemic, processing travels to and from Ukraine.

The EU-funded Integrated Border Management in the Silk Routes (IBM Silk Routes) project has provided Iraq’s border agencies with personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies to help combat the spread of coronavirus.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic many organisations sounded the alarm for protecting the rights of the most vulnerable categories of population, including victims of human trafficking. With little tangible data available at the time of the outbreak, now is the right time to take stock of the impact and plan the next steps.

The widespread national lockdowns witnessed since March 2020 unveiled the fragility of international cooperation. As Secretariat to four major Migration Dialogues, ICMPD and their respective Chairs mobilised Dialogues’ rich experience, knowledge and networks to counter fragmented responses to a crisis that goes beyond health and the economy.

Within the framework of the EU-funded ENIGMMA 2 project, an online Presentation of the "Guideline on Migration Legislation in Italy" was held as a live-stream event on the official Facebook page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia on 8 July 2020.

On 21 and 23 July 2020, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) organised two remote workshops on the training for forced-return monitors in Georgia and Ukraine within the framework of the EU-funded project Forced-Return Monitoring III (FReM III).

In the framework of the EUROMED Migration IV programme, ICMPD has released, together with the Observatory of Public Attitudes to Migration (OPAM - EUI), the third and last chapter of the report entitled "Impact of Public Attitudes to migration on the political environment in the Euro-Mediterranean Region".

In the framework of the EU funded project EU Support for the effective management of green and blue borders in Albania (EU4SAFEALB) implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the assessment mission took place in Albania between 6 to 17 July 2020. 

The EU-India Cooperation and Dialogue on Migration and Mobility project has published the "Prepare for your study in Europe check-list". The checklist seeks to empower Indian students to ask the right questions and make decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information on preparation, pre-departure and post-graduation issues.

ICMPD, in collaboration with the Swiss Government, has organised the first expert meeting in the framework of its Annual Policy Initiative 2020. Switzerland, as the chair of ICMPD’s Steering Group in 2020, has dedicated its chairmanship to the topic "Safeguarding human and public security in the new migration agenda" and ICMPD is running the Annual Policy Initiative 2020 under the same heading.

Governments are considering ‘immunity passports’ to allow those with COVID-19 antibodies greater mobility and to provide employers with an increasing pool of people to fill public-facing jobs. This may seem tempting but would lead to mass discrimination in the labour market, and also provide perverse incentives to potential migrants to become infected. There are alternatives.

Bolstering gender sensitive approaches within Lebanese Security Agencies has been a top priority for ICMPD’s Netherlands’ Assistance Project ever since its development. Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Lebanon, a fervent believer in the value of active female participation, the Project has strived to shape its whole assistance in a way that favours female inclusion and empowerment.