Enhancing cooperation among the Prague Process states

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The 8th Prague Process webinar ‘Building better return and reintegration programs’ with Glen Swan, ICMPD Consultant on Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration, will take place on 6 October 2020 at 10:30 CET.

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.  This webinar presents a short background on AVRR program principles, discusses current operational challenges and provides recommendations for agile program design.

For some observers, the New Pact on Migration and Asylum — with proposals on mandatory screening of migrants at the border and stepping up the return of failed asylum seekers — goes too far. Others feel such measures are the minimum necessary and, if they cannot work, the very survival of the Schengen area may be at stake. Others still want to focus on stepping up the Union’s external engagement with third countries and promising ideas such as the Commission’s proposed talent partnerships.

The past 30 years have seen several waves of asylum seekers from the post-Soviet region reaching the EU, including from the Central Asian (CA) and Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. Their relatively small numbers resulted in limited attention by the research community. Yet, in 2018, asylum seekers from the two regions accounted for over 7% of all first-time asylum applicants in the EU. The extremely low recognition rate of asylum applications and the broad demographic profile among asylum seekers from the eight countries examined suggests that they actually abuse the EU asylum system to improve their socioeconomic situation. The witnessed mixed flows of forced and voluntary migration from the EaP and CA states challenge the efficiency of the EU asylum and international protection system. Several aspects deserve particular attention in this respect: the inclusion of the CA and EaP countries in the lists of safe countries of origin (SCO), resulting in accelerated asylum procedures; and the need for proper awareness-raising about regular migration channels to the EU MS.

The new Background Note 'Asylum seekers from the Eastern Partnership and Central Asian Countries in the EU' authored by Dr. Olga R. Gulina and released by the Prague Process Migration Observatory provides a statistical overview on the inflows, demographic indicators and recognition rates of asylum seekers coming to the European Union, focusing on eight countries of origin, located in the Eastern Partnership and Central Asia region: Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia, as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The document entails evidence on the socio-economic and political push factors behind these flows and the policy context they are embedded in. Particular attention is given to the classification of these countries as so-called ‘safe countries of origin’, in spite of the ongoing or frozen territorial conflicts suffered by some of them. Several conclusions and recommendations are drawn at the end.

To preview and download the Note please use this link.

The Prague Process Migration Observatory and ICMPD's Regional Coordination Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) regularly monitor and collect the most recent news on a variety of migration-related topics from the EECA region. Herewith, we present you the latest edition of the MEDIA DIGEST covering news released in July 2020.

All previous editions of the Media Digest can be accessed here. New Digest issues are being published at the beginning of each month featuring news items of the previous month. Each issue provides readers with a concise overview of the main migration developments in the region. All news in the digest is grouped by country and category. To open a news item click on the link in the second column, that will take you to the original source. To navigate across the issues please 1) click on the issue you are interested in (e.g. July 2020); 2) click on "search tools" button at the top and use country/category filters to see the news most relevant to you. To remove all filters click "Clear" at the top.

Should you wish to share any relevant news with the Prague Process readers, please reach out to the Secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We gladly present you the infographic that features all remote Prague Process activities organised in March-July 2020 in line with the adopted Contingency Plans in view of coronavirus pandemic. It entails in-built links to access the respective publications and video recordings. 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.

The 7th 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 will take place on 24 September 2020 at 10:30 CET.

The webinar will provide an overview on the EU Directives on legal migration, the results of the recent Fitness check on the respective EU framework and resulting lessons learned. The webinar will further address the main challenges faced at EU level in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The sixth Prague Process webinar 'Migration and the Platform Economy' with Glen Hodgson, Founder and CEO of the Independent Think Tank Free Trade Europa, will take place on 10 September 2020 at 10:30 AM CET.

The webinar will look at the perspectives that the platform economy can 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. Read more on this topic in the recent brief "Migration and the Platform Economy" authored by Glen Hodgson ahead of the webinar.

A great opportunity for journalists, bloggers and other media content creators from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine interested in migration topics. ICMPD is offering an online training on legal, labour and other migration issues, facilitated by ICMPD and world-renowned media and migration experts. The training cycle will take place from October until November 2020.

Much is said and written about the platform economy with many reports and studies highlighting that the majority of jobs will be freelance and plat­form-based within a few years. In the new Policy Brief “Migration and the Platform Economy”, Glen Hodgson looks at what perspectives the platform economy can provide to migrants. Third-country nationals cannot get locked in a tech­nology-facilitated parallel economy which leads to unstable incomes, limited training and social isolation. The COVID-19 crisis has led to rising unemploy­ment and the recovery is likely to be characterised by increased labour market flexibility. Significant demand remains in some sectors - for both low and high-skilled workers - and the platform economy can help in turning black jobs white and integrating migrants into host country labour forces. Work permits should be granted to migrants where jobs are available, while efforts should be made by all stakeholders to build trust in the platform economy through collaboration and the establishment of a Code of Conduct.

To preview and download the brief please use this link.

The 5th Prague Process webinar ‘Maximizing labour migration outcomes in the Prague Process corridors: Practices on how to benchmark countries of destination in June 2020’ with Andrea Salvini, Independent Advisor on Labour Migration, took place on 2 July 2020.

The webinar helped participants to familiarize with diagnostic tools to compare countries of destinations, especially focusing on low- and medium-skills sectoral shortages. The methods to assess skills shortages were touched upon with in-migration systems, integration prospects, working and living conditions, as well as wages analysed so as to maximize remittances gains. Government officials from both countries of origin and of destination had the opportunity to discuss trade-offs between circular and long-term migration policy options, as well as how to adapt TVET components of both pre-departure and post-arrival services to strategic needs. The webinar also shed light on some implications brought about by the COVID19 crisis and policy responses had been witnessed by June 2020.

The webinar recording is available in two formats: the first contains the presentation of Andrea Salvini 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

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