Climate change has become one of the most severe and far-reaching challenges of our time, with existential consequences for ecosystems, biodiversity, and human populations – as pointed out by the International Court of Justice’s recent advisory opinion. Its impacts extend well beyond the environmental sphere, positioning it as a defining governance challenge with direct implications for human rights, economic resilience, geopolitical stability, and migration systems. Across all regions, rising temperatures, droughts, floods, storms, and land degradation are already reshaping living conditions, undermining livelihoods, and transforming patterns of human mobility. 

The European Union and the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic, and ICMPD opened the second Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in Kyrgyzstan on 22 May 2026. The Centre will expand access to services for potential migrants across the region on safe and legal migration, and raise awareness on the risks of irregular migration and threats of human trafficking.

On 21 May 2026, the EU-funded Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA 11) officially launched its 11th phase with an Opening Conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The event brought together more than 80 representatives of border and law enforcement agencies, government institutions from the five Central Asian countries, EU Delegations, international organisations, and implementing partners, who presented the Programme’s objectives, thematic priorities, and implementation approach.

Less than a month into the official roll-out of the European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum, ICMPD commits to support the implementation of one of the foremost reforms in European migration and asylum policy. Following its work with Member States in developing their National Implementation Plans (NIP), ICMPD has been working to align national systems and procedures with the requirements of the EU Pact on asylum procedures, border security, screening, Solidarity responsibility mechanisms, and protecting vulnerable persons. 

This year ICMPD’s flagship initiative - Migrant Resource Centres - marks a decade of frontline service delivery, growing from a single pilot centre in Lahore, Pakistan, to multi-country model that supports migrants, returnees and communities across the full migration cycle. 

The European Union Ambassador to Uzbekistan and the Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs and the Federal Minister of the Interior visited the Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in Tashkent on 7 May 2026. EU Ambassador Toivo Klaar, Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, were joined by ICMPD Deputy Director General Sedef Dearing; along with MRC counsellors and project coordinators, and Austrian media.