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“Re-imagining migration partnerships: Challenges, opportunities and strategies” was the topic of debate at the sixth edition of the annual Vienna Migration Conference, Europe’s leading forum on migration, which took place on 19 and 20 October 2021 at Vienna’s historic Palais Niederösterreich.

On 2-3 November 2021 in Paris, EUROMED Migration V and MC2CM, in cooperation with the French Ministry for European and Foreign Affairs and the Club of Venice organised a large-scale event on communicating migration and analysing migration narratives in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Euro-Mediterranean experts and policy actors gathered in Malta and online to discuss migration partnerships and return and reintegration strategies: On 27 and 28 October, representatives of EU Member States and Southern Partner Countries, as well as migration experts, gathered in Valletta (Malta) and online to reflect on the future of migration partnerships and on the new EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration.

Analysing survey data on recently settled refugees in Austria, two new studies by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) show that young people, women, and people with higher levels of qualification were strongly affected by the Corona crisis in the labour market.

The Strengthening Border Security in Ghana (SBS Ghana) project, funded by European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), organised a reception in Accra for three beneficiary organisations who received a three hundred thousand Euros grants, to implement activities that will support and contribute to innovative approaches on mobility issues and border management in Ghana.

On 27-28 October 2021, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) organised an interactive two-day workshop on the Migration Policy Cycle in Baku in a hybrid format within the framework of the EU-funded “Support to the Implementation of the Mobility Partnership with Azerbaijan” (MOBILAZE 2) project. The workshop was facilitated by international academia experts of UNU-Merit/ Maastricht University - Ms Elaine Lebon-McGregor and Ms Eleni Diker and supported by national migration expert - Ms Sevinj Mastiyeva and the ICMPD Baku project team. The workshop covered interactive discussions and know-how exchange on different stages of the migration policy cycle.

On 21 October, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) delivered a Human Rights Training for the Moldovan forced return officer from the Bureau for Migration and Asylum. As part of the same FReMM project, the next day on 22 October ICMPD held a Workshop on coordination and information exchange between the returning authority and the Moldovan forced return monitors.

The CADRE project, implemented by ICMPD within the framework of the European Return and Reintegration Network (ERRIN programme), entered the autumn season hosting two “Train-the-Trainers” sessions for return counsellors in Berlin. The face-to-face training took place on 6-10 September and 27 September-1 October 2021.

Before the entry into force of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons specially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Protocol), most countries did not comprehensively criminalize trafficking, which left victims unidentified and offenders unpunished – human trafficking was occurring with impunity. Even though countries have today introduced anti-trafficking legislation, impunity remains widespread.

Vienna 18th October 2021—The number of ICMPD Member States has increased again: Greece has just become the 19th member to join ICMPD, an international organisation working to find innovative solutions to regional migration challenges. This accession takes place after Germany (2020), Turkey and Malta (2018) joined ICMPD in recent years.

Vienna, 14 October 2021 – The sixth Vienna Migration Conference (VMC) on 19-20 October will bring together top-level decision-makers to discuss game-changing trends that could alter the landscape of negotiations around migration to Europe. Titled “Reimagining migration partnerships: Challenges, opportunities and strategies”.

On 13 October 2021, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) organised an international Migration Partnership Conference in an online format in the framework of the EU-funded “Support to the Implementation of the Mobility Partnership with Azerbaijan” (MOBILAZE 2) project. The conference also served as an official kick-off event of the MOBILAZE 2 project and brought together high-level practitioners and policymakers from Azerbaijan, EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, EU Member States, ICMPD, Eastern Partnership countries (Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova), international actors and other stakeholders including civil society and academia in Azerbaijan. The participants discussed mobility partnership priorities and the main features of migration policy and management in Azerbaijan and in the region.

During 29-30 September, the ICMPD Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia paid a visit to Moldova with the view to learn about the country's new vision on migration and exchange views on top priorities for future programming. The visit comes after recent Parliamentary elections and the establishment of a new Cabinet, with subsequent changes in top management in areas related to migration, as well. In addition to meeting various stakeholders, the mission also took stock of ongoing projects' progress and explored follow-up options.

On 16 September 2021, the ICMPD Anti-Trafficking Programme launched the regional project “Developing Approaches for Enhancing the Functionality of the National Referral Mechanisms (NRMs) in the MARRI Participants”. The project implementation plan and timeline were presented and discussed during the kick-off online meeting together with the implementation partners from Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI) and German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), who is the project donor.

From 22 – 24 September, ICMPD in the framework of the ReConnect project, held the Second Return Counselling Training for the stakeholders of the National Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Programme (NAVRR), the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM), its provincial departments and the Turkish Red Crescent (TRC).