News

The adoption of the New EU Strategy on Central Asia in June 2019 put forward the need to translate its strategic objectives related to migration and border management into concrete actions. To launch the work in this direction, the Ministry of the Interior and Administration of Poland and the Prague Process Secretariat at ICMPD jointly organised the conference “Areas of cooperation on migration with Central Asia” in Warsaw on 4 December 2019.

The Prague Process Migration Observatory releases its new Policy brief "Assessing the EU's External Migration Policy" authored by Kristof Tamas.

The policy brief looks at the effectiveness of the EU instruments for cooperation on migration and suggests that the EU should now explore how partner countries’ interests can be better accommodated within the existing cooperation framework.

The Prague Process Migration Observatory releases its new Policy brief "The EU Central Asia Strategy and Its Impact on Migration" authored by Yan Matusevich.

The policy brief assesses the novelties of the new EU Central Asia Strategy 2019 and the particular place for migration in it. The brief suggests that the EU can no longer afford looking at migration and mobility solely through the prism of security and stability. The time has come to adopt a more comprehensive and active approach centred on promoting migration opportunities rather than containing
migration challenges.

On 23-24 October 2019, ICMPD organised the second International Conference on Comprehensive Border Governance in Yerevan. Following the success of its first edition held in Lebanon in 2018, this year the invitation was extended to all Prague Process states. The event thus gathered 80 state representatives and experts, including policy-makers, academic experts, various public institutions and agencies, as well as private sector representatives working in the border governance sphere.

The new July-September 2019 issue of the Prague Process Quarterly Review is now available for download in English and Russian.

After providing a snapshot from the three latest Prague Process activities, this Quarterly Review will inform you about the outcomes of the conference on “Migration and Urban Development”, which assessed the ever more important role of cities in managing immigration and integration. This issue will also address the competition for the Ukrainian labour force as well as the dangers that such rapid exodus of the working-age population might entail. Moreover, it will update you on the temporary redistribution mechanism for migrants arriving in the EU through the Mediterranean Sea, as well as on the latest visa amendments in some of the Prague Process states. Finally, this 20^th issue will introduce you to the latest Prague Process publications and propose some additional reading on top.  

To see all issues please go to the section "Quarterly Review" under News & Events.

The Trainer's Manual "What is Trafficking in Human Beings?"  is now available online.

This Manual is a result of the rich expertise of its authors, Mr Madis Vainomaa, Project Manager and anti-trafficking expert, and Ms Ivanka Hainzl, Project Officer, both working at the ICMPD’s Anti-trafficking Programme. It was produced within the Prague Process Training Academy, which aims to enhance capacity building and the implementation of advanced trainings on migration-related issues across the Prague Process states by supplying the competent migration authorities with the necessary tools for organising own trainings in-house.  The manual is developed to serve the anti-trafficking stakeholders from the participating countries of the Prague Process. Migration practitioners can use this Manual as a practical guide on how to deliver knowledge to any target audience.

You can preview and download the manual under this link.

The 5^th Ministerial Consultation of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue took place in Dubai on 16-17 October 2019. Lithuania as the current Chair of the Prague Process accepted the invitation in order to promote the Prague Process at international level and ensure its adequate positioning among other Regional Consultative Processes (RCPs). Mr. Tautvydas Tamulevicius, Vice Minister of the Interior of Lithuania, took an active part in the Special Meeting and the High-Level Panel Discussion on Interregional Cooperation, where he was one of three panellists.

During last year’s Workshop on Gathering, Analysis and Sharing of Migration Data in Skopje, several Prague Process states expressed the need to receive in-depth training on managing migration data. Their request resulted in the organisation of a tailor-made training, which took place in Vilnius on 8-10 October 2019. The 2,5-day activity gathered representatives of 16 Prague Process states and Frontex. The training addressed the entire cycle of migration data management, ranging from its collection and analysis to its dissemination, visualisation and data protection issues. Five excellent trainers – on behalf of the Joint Research Centre (European Commission), the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Romania, the National Institute of Statistics of Italy, IOM’s GMDAC and ICMPD – facilitated the individual sessions and various exercises.

Upon invitation of the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro, representatives of 14 states gathered in the beautiful town of Budva on 24-26 September for the Training on Labour migration. The 2.5-day training covered the whole cycle of labour migration, ranging from pre-departure and pre-decision activities to skills recognition and reintegration steps.

The second Research Coordination Meeting of the Prague Process Migration Observatory took place in Vienna on 23 of July 2019. The meeting featured the discussion on the new cycle of research papers of the Migration Observatory that will see light at the end of 2019. During the event, each expert had an opportunity to present his draft research and receive concrete feedback from the peer-researches. Such feedback round in a small group of experts allowed identifying gaps and posing important research questions, which the papers shall further address.