News

Between the 5^th and 7^th of September 2022, under the scope of the KOMPLEKS project, ICMPD organized a study visit for representatives of Polish local authorities and project partners to Norway.

On 5-6 September 2022, in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, the EU-funded Border Management Programme in Central Asia – Phase 10 (BOMCA 10) started its first of a series of National Project Steering Group Meetings (NSGMs) in Central Asia. During September – October 2022, the leadership of the project, representatives of the European Union and implementing partners will meet with the key partners, such as state agencies and international organisations in all countries across the region to review the Programme’s progress in the current year and to define upcoming plans.

The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) has recently become the target of an external cyber-attack. The attackers managed to gain limited access to individual servers and to get hold of some of our data.

Immediately after discovering the attack ICMPD has taken all measures to limit the impact of this attack. In parallel, ICMPD reported the issue to the Austrian Data Protection Authorities in accordance with the regulations. The criminal investigation of this case is currently ongoing and ICMPD is cooperating with the authorities.

ICMPD and international organisations call on states to harness the opportunities presented by technology to counter trafficking in persons. On the occasion of 30 July, the International Day against Trafficking in Persons, a joint statement was published by the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), that ICMPD is co-chairing this year.

On 25-26 July, the project “Supporting the Implementation and further Strengthening of Turkey’s National Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration System” (NAVRR) held an expert workshop in Ankara on developing visibility and outreach plans for Türkiye’s National Assisted Voluntary Return & Reintegration Programme.

On 28 July 2022, the Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media of the Republic of Austria, organised a conference on ministerial and state levels to address current trends and challenges for integration in Europe. ICMPD’s Director General Michael Spindelegger, attended the conference and pointed out that both, refugee hosting countries as well as refugees need continued international support. 

Under the title ‘Migration and Society – A whole of government process with a whole-of society participation ‘representatives of ICMPD, the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the University College of Teacher Education Lower Austria (PH NÖ) met to discuss the results of the joint project ‘MIGRATION.DIGITAL.PEDAGOGY‘ (MiDiP). External experts were invited to join the discussion on social peace, diversity and public safety to provide an additional perspective.

During its first mission to Kenya and Ghana, the Inspire project team introduced the project to a variety of stakeholders in Mombasa, Nairobi and Accra.

On 20 July, ICMPD in partnership with the Public Security Directorate and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, organised a “Lessons Learned Conference of the Document Security Project in Jordan” in Amman. The conference aimed to highlight the main achievements and success of this pilot project, in addition to presenting lessons learned and good practices in the field of document security.

On 5-8 July 2022, the MOBILAZE 2 project organised a study visit to Spain for relevant Azerbaijani authorities to learn about the legal regime and status of foreign domestic workers.

On 13 July 2022, ICMPD Director General Michael Spindelegger went on mission to Niger and met HE Hassoumi Massoudou, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Niger. They signed a Seat Agreement for ICMPD. Niger is the third country in West Africa in ICMPD’s expanding portfolio, and follows Nigeria and Ghana.

On 23 June 2022 in Warsaw, Poland, the Polish Migration Forum Foundation (PFM), in collaboration with ICMPD and the Association for Legal Intervention (SIP), launched the first networking event as part of the ICMPD-led project on Comprehensive Support for People in a Vulnerable Situation in the Polish Migration Management System (KOMPLEKS). 

On 5 July 2022, a ceremony took place to officially hand over five patrol vessels and two surveillance vehicles to the Border and Migration Police of the Albanian State Police of the Ministry of Interior of Albania. The vehicles were procured within the framework of the project “EU Support for the Effective Management of Green and Blue Borders in Albania, (EU4SAFEALB). 

Representatives of the Albanian Ministry of Interior, the Delegation of the European Union, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and other national and international counterparts gathered for the Handover Ceremony. After the opening speeches guests were invited to visit the boats for plaque reveal and partake in the traditional ‘baptism’. 
 

On 1 July 2022, ICMPD Director General Michael Spindelegger welcomed Mr Farhod Salim, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan. Ongoing projects and cooperation, as well as current migration challenges, were the subject of the visit.

A new service of psychological counselling will be rendered to the residents of the Migrants Accommodation Centre in Chisinau. Such service has been a pressing need at the Centre ever since its setting-up over a decade ago. Psychological counselling of foreigners is an increasing priority especially now, amidst the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in neighbouring Ukraine.