News

On 19 June, Michael Spindelegger, ICMPD Director General, attended the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and took part in the high-level panel “Humanitarian Approach towards Refugees and Migrants”. On the panel, he was joined by Mr Antonio Vitorino (IOM Director General), Dr. Kerem Kinik (Red Crescent/IFRC) and Dr. Savaş Ünlü (Director DGMM Turkey). Andrea Sanke moderated the panel.

2020 will go down as a year that upended lives, systems and the modus operandi of the entire world. This past year saw severe public health and economic crises coupled with unprecedented changes in global mobility. Borders were closed, visa processes frozen and exceptional travel restrictions imposed – all overnight. The exponential loss of resources and livelihoods suddenly suffered by tens of millions of migrant workers has impacted well-being across the board.

The Ghana Immigration Service made an important step towards a new accountability system, in order to improve internal ethics and transparency with staff and citizens. The draft Code of Conduct for the Service was prepared during a workshop held between 14 and 18 June, in Accra.

ICMPD, under the framework of the MIgration EU expertise+ (MIEUX+) Initiative organised the High-Level Panel ‘Human capital and mobility at the service of the green economy’ as part of the official programme of the 14th edition of the ‘European Development Days.

The Strengthening Border Security in Ghana (SBS Ghana) project, funded by European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), has launched its second Demand Driven Facility (DDF) Call for Proposals - Support to innovative approaches and best practices on mobility and border management.

The MOBILAZE 2 project started in Azerbaijan in June 2021 to support the implementation of the Mobility Partnership with the EU. The project is funded by the EU and supports the implementation of an evidence-based migration and border management policy agenda in Azerbaijan, and will run for 36 months.

On 11 June 2021, ICMPD completed the delivery of two-day training sessions for the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) and the State Customs Service (SCS) of Ukraine on business process reengineering.

To celebrate the World’s Day against Child Labour (12 June) and the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour (2021), ICMPD joins the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Action Pledge 2021 to eliminate child labour. 

On 2 June 2021, ICMPD held a virtual senior expert roundtable to discuss means of addressing irregular migration along migration routes. The meeting brought together senior experts from EU and ICMPD Member States, international organisations, EU institutions and other relevant bodies. Participants zoomed in on ways that partnerships and policies can better address irregular migration by looking along entire migration routes and considering the perspectives of countries of origin, transit and destination.

On 26 May 2021, ICMPD, in the framework of the project Libya’s Migration Technical Assistance Facility (LIBMITAF), took part in a mission to the southern city of Sabha, Libya. The mission was organised by the World Food Programme (WFP) Libya in order to discuss the needs and priorities of the Municipality together with Libyan and international stakeholders, including the mayor of Sabha, the EU Ambassador to Libya, and several UN representatives.

On 20 May, ICMPD Turkey and Western Balkans Regional Coordination Office hosted an international webinar on “Cooperation with Civil Society and Municipalities in Migration Management in Turkey and the Netherlands”. The webinar brought together representatives of public authorities, civil society organisations (CSOs) and local administrations from the Netherlands and Turkey to discuss best practices in cooperation in the field of migration management.

On 23 – 27 May, representatives nominated by the Jordanian Borders and Residency  Department (BRD), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as donor and ICMPD  gathered for the first basic training on document security. The event was organised at the Forensic Science Training Center in Amman.

On 28 May 28 2021, ICMPD’s SUPREME project held an online conference on Turkey’s Priorities on Irregular Migration and Return. Constituting SUPREME’s final project activity, the conference brought together crucial national and international stakeholders in the field of irregular migration.

On 26 May, the EUROMED Migration V Programme (EMM5) organised an online Technical Briefing on the New EU Agenda for the Mediterranean. The event was attended by over 50 representatives of 22 EMM5 participating countries and by representatives of international organisations and European agencies.

As the pandemic reaches different stages in different countries, its longer-term impacts on the migration and employment landscape, as well as economic recovery, will become increasingly pressing priorities to address – and ones that will necessitate revisiting cooperation on labour migration schemes. In this context, the Republic of Malta and ICMPD, through its Member States Programme, organised an expert discussion on 27 May 2021 that explored the future of legal migration policies, with a focus on enhanced cooperation and partnerships that are responsive to the post-COVID-19 reality.