News

On 2 December 2022, the 31 member organisations of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), have issued a Call to Action urging countries, in the context of increasing crises, to put in place effective responses and increase cooperation to combat this crime.

On a three-day mission to Türkiye, from 29 November – 01 December, ICMPD’s Director General, Michael Spindelegger met with the Minister of Interior and the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Türkiye as well as numerous high-ranking representatives. He participated in NACORAC project’s kick-off conference as well as in the Budapest Annual Process Senior Officials Meeting.

The lack of a permanent physician has been a pressing issue at the Chisinau Migrants Accommodation Centre in the last few years. Thanks to the CareFor project, the Centre’s residents now benefit from primary medical attention.

The European Union in Ghana within the framework of the SBS Ghana project has donated five motor bikes and other security equipment to the Ghana Immigration Service to fight human trafficking and strengthen security surveillance at Ghana's borders. This will support GIS in its effort to ensure greater security for citizens and visitors, while guaranteeing the respect for the rule of law and human rights standards by border management authorities.

Unique collaboration bringing together migration expertise, a local university and the private sector, opens up prospects for the local population, business location and companies

On 25 November 2022, a vocational training facility, the Centre of Practical Skills, as well as the Godfrey Okoye University European Business Park, were opened in Enugu, Nigeria. This unique combination of private entrepreneur involvement and skilled worker training will enable 100 people per year to undertake dual education and training to learn skilled trades and become plumbers, electricians and construction supervisors.

On 17-18 November 2022, ICMPD and SOLIDAR co-organised a SPRING workshop taking place in Brussels, Belgium, focusing on good practices in the integration of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers and improved integration outcomes through mutual learning.

In Ankara on 10-11 November, the NAVRR Project held an operational workshop and senior officials meeting on reintegration and post-arrival assistance delivery for the national stakeholders of Türkiye’s National Assisted Voluntary Return & Reintegration (NAVRR) Mechanism. Contributions to the workshop were made by ICMPD’s Senior AVRR Expert and Return, Readmission & Reintegration Specialist, together with the Pakistani Red Crescent Society as well as BRAC from Bangladesh and Shaqodoon from Somalia.

On 17 November, ICMPD organised a workshop for Moldovan stakeholders as part of the project “Capacity for a Rights-Based Reception System for Moldova” (CareFor) to exchange experience on communicating on migration, including in times of crisis. The workshop gathered communication specialists from the project beneficiaries and partners, ICMPD experts and the project team.

On 10 November 2022, the ICMPD Director General, Michael Spindelegger, and the Ambassador Director General of the Kingdom of Morocco Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, H.E. Fouad Yazourh, signed the Seat Agreement between ICMPD and the Kingdom of Morocco.

Between the 7^th and 9^th of November 2022, under the scope of the KOMPLEKS project, ICMPD organized a study visit for representatives of Polish local authorities and project partners to Austria.

On 4 October 2022, the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), chaired by ICMPD, met with the European Union Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, Diane Schmitt, to exchange on policy matters and strengthen cooperation to counter conflict-related human trafficking.

On 25-26.10.2022, the Anti-Trafficking Programme facilitated two meetings of the anti-trafficking stakeholders in Cabo Verde aiming at the validation of the National Strategy and Action Plan against Trafficking and at setting the next actions of the National Observatory against Human Trafficking.
 

The Strengthening Border Security in Ghana (SBS Ghana) project, funded by European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), sponsored a ten-member delegation from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo to participate in the first edition of the “Abidjan Border Forum” (ABF) under the theme “Borders and Collective Security” held from 18 to 20 October 2022 in Abidjan.

On 24 - 25 October 2022, at the Fourth Prague Process Ministerial Conference, Ministers and high-level officials from the Prague Process countries endorsed a Joint Declaration and Action Plan 2023-2027, which shall sustain and expand the Prague Process cooperation in the coming years. Organised by the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union in Prague, the conference allowed the Parties to discuss the most pressing migration issues and agree on a joint way forward in addressing them.

Between July and September 2022, under the scope of the KOMPLEKS project, ICMPD organised a first series of training on gender-based violence and risk of human trafficking of unaccompanied minors.