Today is the International Migrants Day. On this occasion we reflect on our work in another year of continued or escalating wars and conflicts, rising climate change, and socio-economic deprivations that have displaced 120 million1 people in their own countries or forced them to cross borders for their safety.
Effective migration governance requires a comprehensive framework for migrants and the migration routes; and in the development, protection capacities, and socio-economic standards of countries of origin, transit, and first asylum countries. This ensures people’s jobs, protection needs and well-being are also met in countries of origin and their new host countries, providing real alternatives to onward movements and preventing them from falling into irregular migration or in the hands of traffickers.
Europe faces increasing skills needs to meet labour market demands. There is an opportunity to work with countries of origin that have already been pursuing policies and initiatives to better equip potential migrants with the skills and information, to increase their chances of being recruited abroad; and if they relocate, to successfully integrate. For instance, aligning education curricula and skills training can facilitate the recognition of qualifications; while pre-departure and post-arrival support are paired with reintegration services to utilise their gained skills for their country’s labour market upon return.
On both accounts, multi-purpose hubs such as ICMPD’s Migrant Resource Centres provide (potential) migrants a range of services such as information on access to safe and regular pathways, advice on scholarship and employment opportunities abroad, tailored services to improve preparedness for migration, and, in some cases, reintegration services upon return. These MRCs, already in many countries, can be scaled up to facilitate access to regular pathways, including labour migration.
ICMPD’s Migration Partnership Facility is also working with the EU in mapping the labour migration pathways. Along with country summaries, it provides researchers, policymakers, experts, and potential migrants with clustered data according to common requirements; including language, labour market quota, and income. The EU can also tap into the readily available skills of recent international graduates from European universities, in line with the EU Students and Researchers Directive.
The private sector, meanwhile, can further complement government hiring efforts for corporations and especially small- and medium-sized enterprises. As shown in ICMPD’s Cultivating Talent study, simplified labour pathways and procedures would make the EU more attractive for international talent, and provide a stronger basis for scaling up partnerships with countries of origin.
Safer border management and capacity partnerships require shared responsibilities and leadership, making use of both countries of origin and destination countries’ data, migration trends, innovations, good practices, and long-term perspectives. As Europe mitigates cross-border crimes, ICMPD is also working on strengthening third-country capacities to prevent, if not eliminate, the work of human traffickers; including raising children’s awareness of such risks.
Migration dialogues such as the Rabat Process, Khartoum Process, Prague Process and EUROMED Migration, play a role in harnessing the inputs of various state and non-state partners to drive progress in this regard, including at both national and regional levels. The Budapest Process has outlined priorities to expand legal pathways, tackle irregular migration, enhance international protection, prevent discrimination, and strengthen support for integration.
Finally, ICMPD believes in nuanced and fair reporting of sensitive migration issues, as well as communicating with local communities. We have provided capacity-building for ministers and government employees on engaging with and the role of media; MRC counsellors on engaging with potential migrants and communicating on return and reintegration; published a migration textbook for academic, policy, and technical experts; and produced a reporting handbook for sensitive media reporting for journalists.
ICMPD continues to share its pillars in research and evidence-based policies, migration dialogues, sustainable programmes on the ground, and capacity development for and in collaboration with Member States and partner countries.