News

On 1 December 2021, the 3rd Coordination Meeting for the Socio-Economic Development Component took place in Ankara, Turkey. The meeting takes place within the Vice-Presidcency Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRiT). ICMPD in Turkey facilitated the meeting, provided logistical support and gathered the relevant authorities, actors and beneficiaries of the programme. Implemented by ICMPD Turkey and as the beneficiary of the FRiT II Programme, the ICMPD ENHANCER project team provided secretarial support in the organisation of this important event.

On 1 December 2021, ICMPD and the Republic of Malta, in its capacity as 2021 Chair of the ICMPD Steering Group, organised a webinar to explore possible ways of strengthening international cooperation to combat migrant smuggling. The aim of the meeting, which brought together senior experts from ICMPD, the Malta Police Force, EU institutions (Europol, European Commission), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and academia, was to discuss cooperation within the context of a renewed EU Action Plan against Migrant Smuggling (2021-2025). 

Within the framework of the AU-EU Continent-to-Continent Migration and Mobility Dialogue (C2CMMD), the African Institute for Remittances (AIR) and the European Commission (EC) organised a webinar on 25 November 2021, supported by ICMPD. Reiterating their commitment for continued joint efforts both parties highlighted the importance of looking beyond cost reduction to leverage the potential for inclusive and sustainable development, while harnessing opportunities in innovation and digitalisation.

On 25 - 26 November 2021, ICMPD and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) organised the final events of the Forced Return Monitoring III project (FReM III)` online. Since December 2018, ICMPD and Frontex were implementing the FReM III project jointly with the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights and 22 partner countries. The objective was to increase the operational and procedural effectiveness of the Frontex pool of forced-return monitors (Pool) and to support the national forced-return monitoring systems in Member States.

On 24 November 2021, ICMPD organised the senior expert roundtable “More, better or it does not matter? The promise of legal pathways as a means to reduce irregular migration” to discuss linkages between regular and irregular migration and implications for migration policy. The meeting brought together senior experts and practitioners from EU and ICMPD Member States, public institutions, academia and think tanks.

For the 4^th consecutive year on November 23^rd and 24^th 2021, ICMPD and the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service (SBGS) organised an International Border Management Conference to address ongoing issues in the border management sphere worldwide. This year it took place in Kyiv, with a limit of 50 in-person attendees, while more than 300 registered guests could view the conference unfold from online in their choice of English, French, Russian or Ukrainian.

On 08 - 11 November 2021, the NAVRR project organised a mission to Islamabad (Pakistan) for Turkish authorities to strengthen their cooperation in the area of migration with the authorities of Pakistan.

On 15 November 2021, the Third ICAT Principal Level Meeting took place. The meeting assessed the implementation of the group’s Plan of Action, adopted a joint statement related to the upcoming UN General Assembly’s High-Level meeting and endorsed ICMPD and UNODC as co-chairs of ICAT in 2022.

The Strengthening Border Security in Ghana Project, held a regional conference in Accra with high-level representatives and technical experts of the governments of Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo, to discuss issues related to security and cross-border cooperation from 8 to 10 November 2021.

“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.