Prague Process Handbook on Concluding Readmission Agreements and Organising Returns

The “Prague Process Handbook and Guidelines on Concluding Readmission Agreements and Organising Returns” has been developed with the aim of acquainting policy-makers and practitioners dealing with readmission and return with basic knowledge on how to conclude and effectively execute Readmission Agreements and organise safe and orderly forced returns. It can be perceived as a vade mecum or instruction on readmission and return, accompanied by chosen examples of good practices and a set of non-binding guidelines to help streamlining the readmission and return practice.

This publication is the result of the fruitful cooperation among the twenty Prague Process States, which took part in the Pilot Project on Illegal Migration (PP1), implemented from August 2012 until July 2014 within the Prague Process Targeted Initiative. Representatives of relevant state authorities of Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo*, Liechtenstein, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine took part in the project and contributed to this Handbook.

This Handbook combines international practice with the national experience of the PP1 participating States, which have been facing different migration challenges. In view of the varying experience in readmission and organising returns across the participating States, the project provided a suitable platform to exchange know-how, discuss the different national approaches and current practices, thus strengthening the common understanding of the main concepts shaping readmission and return policies. Most importantly, the States participating in the project could directly apply the gained knowledge in practice while negotiating and concluding new Readmission Agreements.

The knowledge gained during the project and condensed in this Handbook should also be used after the project has ended. The publication explores some theoretical aspects of readmission (e.g. types of Readmission Agreements and elements thereof) and examines how readmission and related procedures are applied in practice. For that reason it can be useful in trainings provided to readmission and migration management experts.