From 21-23 June, Ministerial representatives of EU Member States and Southern Partner Countries, as well as migration experts from international organisations and academia met in Jordan at the Conference ‘Capacity Partnerships: Responding to the Needs of Refugees by Developing Opportunities for Host Countries’. They explored ways in which international cooperation could strengthen national and regional capacities to mitigate the challenges and maximise the benefits arising from protracted displacement.
The Conference was opened by Jordan’s Minister of Interior, H.E. Mazin Abdellah Hilal Al Farrayeh, followed by interventions from representatives of the European Union, Germany and ICMPD. During the first day of the conference, participants discussed the protection needs of refugees, the long term challenges and opportunities for host countries dealing with the protracted presence of refugees, and ways to integrate protection and development considerations in policy responses.
The second day was dedicated to interactive sessions delving into national experiences and policy responses to refugee emergency and integration challenges. In addition, participants examine the achievements and shortcomings of current and past international cooperation initiatives on refugee protection and integration, and explore opportunities to scale up and improve durable solutions enabling mechanisms with a view to furthering international responsibility-sharing on refugee protection matters.
Study visit & technical workshop
On the last day, a group of participants visited the Za’atari Refugee Camp in northern Jordan, accompanied by Jordanian authorities. Experts and delegates had a first-hand experience of how refugees are taken care of in the largest Syrian refugee camp in the world. Officials of the Jordan’s Government and UNHCR highlighted some of the main features of the camps, the success stories of refugees developing professional skills and entering the labour market in Jordan, and the difficulties related to insufficient and often inefficient international funding.
The Conference was anticipated by a Technical Workshop, organised online in collaboration with the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). The Workshop saw the participation of migration experts who took stock of the current situation, the challenges, opportunities, and lessons learnt by past mass influxes of displaced populations. A list of written recommendations, on the basis of the experts’ input, was drafted and submitted to the participants of the Conference.
The Conference was organised by EUROMED Migration V, a programme funded by DG NEAR and implemented by ICMPD, in collaboration with and under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and saw the participation of 70 policy actors and experts, from 18 countries and 7 International Organisations, namely EUAA, UNHCR, UNODC, UN-Habitat, ILO, League of Arab States, ICMPD, as well as representatives of the academia.