News

The 8th Prague Process webinar ‘Building better return and reintegration programs’ with Glen Swan, ICMPD Consultant on Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration, took place on 6 October 2020.

This webinar presented a short background on AVRR program principles, discussed current operational challenges and provided recommendations for agile program design. Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) is a continuing topic of interest in migration management. Voluntary return is presented as a dignified method of return, but there are often many challenges associated with effectively implementing a successful AVRR program. Accurate policy settings are part of the challenge, as are operational and political objectives.

The webinar recording is available in two formats: the first contains the presentation of Mr Swan only while the second one represents the full-length video recording of the webinar, entailing also the Q&A session.

To watch the shorter version, please go here

To watch the full-length video, please go here

The seventh Prague Process webinar ‘EU Framework for Legal Migration: Lessons learned and main challenges’ with Monica Alfaro from Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission, took place on 24 September 2020.

The webinar provided an overview of the EU Directives on legal migration, the results of the recent Fitness check on the respective EU framework and resulting lessons learned. The webinar further addressed the main challenges faced at EU level in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The webinar recording is available in two formats: the first contains the presentation of Ms Alfaro only while the second one represents the full-length video recording of the webinar, entailing also the Q&A session.

To watch the shorter version, please go here

To watch the full-length video, please go here

On the occasion of the annual Prague Process Senior Officials' Meeting and ahead of ICMPD's annual flagship event - the Vienna Migration Conference - the Republic of Lithuania, being the current Chair of the Prague Process Strategic Group handed over this important role to the Czech Republic, which will lead the Process in 2021.

The achievements of this important milestone and priorities for the future were summarised in the official statements of the outgoing and incoming Chairs of the Process.

We invite you to watch the statements by following the links:

• Statement of Mr Tautvydas Tamulevičius, Vice-Minister of Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, on handing over the Prague Process Chairmanship to the Czech Republic
• Statement of Mr Tomas Urubek, Head of Unit for International and European Affairs at the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, on taking over the Prague Process Chairmanship from the Republic of Lithuania

Demographic trends in the Prague Process region have been stable over the last years with some countries consistently losing their population due to the natural decline and the negative net migration rate. Our new infographic depicts the key demographic changes across the Prague Process region in 2020 while showcasing the highest population increases and decreases, as well as demographic projections up to 2100. This visualisation was first published in the Prague Process Quarterly Review No 24 July-September 2020. Please preview and download the infographic in English or in Russian.

Our vast Repository contains all recent and older Publications, video-recordings of the webinars and interviews with state officials and academic experts, studies, manuals, Migration Profiles and more.

We are happy to announce the release of the new issue of the Prague Process Quarterly Review covering various developments, events and activities of the third quarter of 2020.

In the EU, the third quarter of 2020 started with Germany taking over the EU Council Presidency and ended with the release of the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum. In its role of acting Presidency, Germany joined the Strategic Group of the Prague Process and will host the upcoming Prague Process Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) on 16 November, which will take place remotely this year. Lithuania, the current Chair of the Process, attended the annual meeting of the “Inter-State consultation mechanisms on migration”. After two years, it will hand over its chairmanship to the Czech Republic during the upcoming SOM. The Prague Process Secretariat meanwhile continued its webinar series in line with the Contingency Plan, which the Prague Process Strategic Group recently decided to extend.  

The sixth Prague Process webinar 'Migration and the Platform Economy' with Glen Hodgson, Founder and CEO of the Independent Think Tank Free Trade Europa, took place on 10 September 2020.

The webinar looked at the perspectives that the platform economy could provide to migrants. Not only can it help in turning black jobs white and integrating migrants into host country labour forces but also in addressing the respective labour market demand. Many researchers agree that the majority of jobs will be freelance and plat­form-based within a few years. Appropriate action shall, therefore, ensure that third-country nationals are not locked in a technology-facilitated parallel economy, which leads to unstable incomes, limited training and social isolation. The webinar was based on the recently published policy brief "Migration and the Platform Economy" authored by Glen Hodgson.

The Prague Process Policy Talk ‘The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum: What role for international cooperation?’ with Ms Maria-Myrto Kanellopoulou, member of the Cabinet of EC Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, and Mr Martijn Pluim, Director for Migration Dialogues and Cooperation at ICMPD, will take place on 22 October 2020 at 10:30 CET.

This Policy Talk will focus on the Pact’s external dimension and possible ways for its operationalisation.

ICMPD Director General Mr. Michael Spindelegger and Ms. Gurlu Jabborzoda, Minister of of Labour, Migration and Employment of Population (MoLMEP) of Tajikistan have exchanged views on migration issues and signed a Memorandum on Understanding.