On 24 September 2015, the EMN National Contact Point (NCP) for Hungary organised a conference entitled The External Dimension of Migration – Cooperation with Countries of Origin and Transit. Among speakers of the conference were representatives of the Hungarian Ministry of Interior including the Police Force, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Budapest, University of Pecs and Maastricht Graduate School of Governance.
The conference discussed best practice in the area of cooperation between EU Member States and countries of origin and transit which included support projects of Prague, Budapest, Khartoum and Rabat process. Regarding the measures in the area of fight against irregular migration, the role of immigration liaison officers working in countries of origin and transit was highlighted. Another presented project was the IOM Programme of Assisted Voluntary Returns and Reintegration (AVRR) with focus on irregular migrants from Kosovo while looking specifically at activities involving state institutions. The end of the conference was devoted to the relationship between migration and development which culminated with the presentation of China’s strategy of the smart power.
The first panel of the conference focused on the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM). Within GAMM, Vivien Vadasi from the Hungarian Ministry of Interior introduced the EU’s External Migration Policy. This complex approach is based on four main pillars: promotion of mobility and legal migration, reduction of the number of irregular migrants, stress on international protection and maximalising the positive effect of migration and mobility on development of third countries. Gergely Szabo from the Hungarian Bureau for Immigration and Citizenship spoke about the tasks and practice of Immigration Liaison Officers Network which was established in 2004. There are two groups of officers within the network – operational and strategic ones. The task of the operational officers is mainly the assistance during an increased number of migrants at the airports, during control checks etc. Strategic officers focus on the cooperation through the exchange of information at the regional as well as international level. Due to the fact that cooperation with some states is rather difficult, such as with the government in Libya, cooperation and communication among individual liaison immigration officers plays an important role as well as their focus on a specific area. Currently, Hungary has immigration liaison officers delegated in Ankara, Hanoi, Nairobi and Algiers whose task is e.g. to provide trainings for employees of airlines on detection of false identity documents.
The second conference panel was devoted to projects in the area of migration in different regions. Tímea Lehoczki from the Hungarian Ministry of Interior introduced the Budapest Process which commenced its first phase by the adoption of the Istanbul Ministerial Declaration in 1993. This project focuses on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and partially Bangladesh and its aim is mostly to strengthen capacities in the Silk Route countries and to support implementation of the Silk Route Partnership. Furthermore, the project supports spread of knowledge, national systems of migration data management and expertise and managerial skills in the area of migration, strengthening of regional and intergovernmental dialogue and enhanced operational cooperation among the Silk Route countries. Erik Reho from the Swedish Council for Migration pointed out the importance of cooperation with third countries as well the regional and bilateral involvement of Sweden. Sweden is a leading country supporting twinning projects of Serbia and other partner countries (the Netherlands and Slovenia) in provision of international protection, obtaining information about the countries of origin, provision of reception conditions for unaccompanied minors and provision of integration measures. In twinning projects with Kosovo together with Austria and the Netherlands, Sweden acts as a junior partner. Istvan Samu from the Hungarian Ministry of Interior introduced the project Eastern partnership cooperation in the fight against irregular migration supporting the implementation of the Prague process Action Plan – EaP SIPPAP. Partner countries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus and among implementation partners belong, apart from the leading Hungary, also Poland, Slovak Republic, Romania, Latvia and ICMPD. These actors exchange practice and information when preparation of documents and operational activities and building up systems of liaison points for exchange of information in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova. Csaba Borsa from the Hungarian Police Force presented the enhancement of readmission and sustainable reintegration of nationals of Kosovo. Hungary launched an EMN Ad-Hoc Query in which it asked the EU Member States whether their state institutions develop initiatives to support voluntary returns of irregular migrants to Kosovo. Based on their responses it was found out that besides Italy, Luxembourg and Germany there were no such initiatives in the responding Member States. In Italy, there is for example a project of family tracing of unaccompanied minors - residing irregularly in Italy - in Kosovo, Egypt, Morocco, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro and Moldova. In Hungary, there is an information campaign for migrants from Kosovo about the possibility to be returned to their country of origin. According to Borsa, the exchange of information between EU Member States and Kosovo should be improved, NGOs should be engaged and the target group should be extended. Julien Simon from ICMPD introduced the project EUROMED III for the implementation of which he was responsible in the period 2012 – 2014. The project aims at enhancement of cooperation in migration issues between EU Member States and countries of the southern region of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). The Mediterranean Sea is often considered as the hot spot of the migration crisis. However, EUROMED is just one of numerous projects focused on cooperation.
The last part with focus on migration and development hosted Magdalena Majkowska-Tomkin, Head of IOM Budapest, who introduced basic migration theories (modernization theory, theory of dependency and human development theory), highlighted the connection between migration and development at various levels and pointed out the positives which migration brings to the society. At the end she drew attention to August 2015 when migration became one of the targets of the tenth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Ozge Bilgili, researcher of the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance in the Netherlands, continued with clarification of the relation between migration and development. In her presentation she emphasized social remittances (e.g. transfer of knowledge) which complement the financial ones. The brain drain is in the debate on the relation between migration and development one of the main arguments of the opponents of migration being the main vehicle of development. However, it has been demonstrated that brain drain is considered a problem only in certain island states. Diaspora can play an important role for the development of countries of origin and therefore the governments should focus on these groups and be aware of their needs. In his presentation about the relation between Africa and China, István Tarrósy from the University of Pécs then introduced the theory of power according to Joseph Nile and subsequently concentrated on China with its strategy of “smart power”. Many African migrants come to study and work to China based on Chinese visa policy and scholarships which are easier to be obtained than the European ones.
More information about the conference is available at the HU EMN NCP website.
Apart from the conference, an EMN Cluster Meeting was held where representatives of NCPs discussed building of the national network. More specifically, they dealt with cooperation with state institutions and NGOs at the national level.