News

Kabul, Afghanistan: ICMPD has completed a successful mission to Afghanistan where fruitful meetings were held with His Excellency First Vice President Amrullah Saleh as well as the Ministers and Deputy-Ministers responsible for Foreign Affairs, Labour & Social Affairs, Refugees & Repatriation, and Peace. Moreover, ICMPD met with the Afghan Border Police, the EU Delegation in Kabul, the Aga Khan Development Network as well as the Danish, Dutch and German representations to Afghanistan.

Baghdad, Iraq: On 14 October 2020, ICMPD welcomed high-level participants from the Iraq Border Ports Commission Council, the European Union Advisory Mission to Iraq and the European Union Delegation to Iraq to discuss drafting of a National Integrated Border Management (IBM) Strategy and Action Plan for Iraq.

The meeting presented the core elements and principles of the EU IBM concept as a source of inspiration for the development of strategic border management governance, as well as the available support that ICMPD could offer to the Iraqi government to support the drafting of a strategy and action plan.

Islamabad: When Covid-19 brought the world to a halt, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) stepped in to ensure that training of frontline officers continued online. These sessions ensured that 60 female law enforcement officers from Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency were trained on areas of Irregular Migration, Human Trafficking, the Smuggling of Human Beings and Border Management. A video of their feedback on the training - and comments from senior FIA Academy management - is coming soon.

It has been a busy year for us so far, and with the final quarter of 2020 underway it is a perfect opportunity to take stock. In spite of the global COVID-19 pandemic we have been able to adapt in order to hold webinars, online events and trainings. We have also launched a new website, three new social media channels and reached over 10 million people via Facebook.

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Lahore, Pakistan: On 12 - 15 October 2020, the IBM Silk Routes project organised a training on document security for 22 front-line officers of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan working at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore.

What have we been doing in Pakistan in the last month?

Have a look at this information from our Migrant Resource Centre Pakistan to find out more:

Farah, Afghanistan: The EU-funded Integrated Border Management in the Silk Routes Countries (IBM Silk Routes) project has provided a power generator to Farah province, which will be installed at the Abu Nasr-e-Farahi border crossing point, bordering with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

What have we been doing in Afghanistan in the last month?

Have a look at this information from our Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) to find out more:

Dhaka: Three days of training for media personnel working at the national and local levels on migration are ongoing. The second online training is jointly organized by the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). Dr. Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, the Honourable Secretary in charge of the Ministry, inaugurated the training.

Peshawar: ICMPD organised a training on document security for the 20 front-line officers of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan working at Bacha Khan International Airport, Peshawar. The fraudulent use of identity and travel documents represents a threat to the security of countries and their citizens, the economy, and global commerce, as it facilitates a wide range of cross border crimes and terrorism. Funded by the European Union, the training was organised to strengthen the capacity of the participating officers to detect forged documents, profile individuals and take a decision during the first line document check for further investigation.

Dhaka: Today, the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) kicked off a series of formal capacity building initiatives to 10 Technical Training Centres (TTCs) in Bangladesh located in districts without District Employment and Manpower Offices.

The first set of training sessions are focused on strengthening the capacities of TTCs to promote awareness on safe, regular and orderly migration. There are 32 participants taking part from the 10 districts. This will be followed by individual mentoring for each TTC and a second formal training session on 11-12th November.

While Europe is holding its breath in anticipation of another COVID-19 related lockdown, with people still adapting to closed borders and movement restrictions, the people of Afghanistan are all too familiar with this situation. For Afghans, the pandemic is merely one additional threat to health and life to cope with. Taking a holistic approach, this article will look at how COVID-19 might affect the migration patterns of Afghans, and which new threats and opportunities will develop.

By Marija Raus

Vienna: To bridge the gap between theory and practice, it is vital that key concepts related to migration are understood. With this in mind, we have prepared a series of three videos which explain some key migration topics: Irregular migration, the Smuggling of migrants and Human trafficking, which were used in recent law enforcement trainings.

The Budapest Process network was invited to join a webinar on 30th September focused on migration narratives and how they shape public perceptions and attitudes toward migration.

Dhaka: On October 1 2020, ICMPD organised a session on Integrated Border Management (IBM) Awareness for the Bangladesh Customs, National Board of Revenue (NBR). The awareness session was attended by Deputy and Assistant Commissioners from 12 Customs Houses and Commissionerates across Bangladesh, as well as by officials from training, investigation and intelligence directorates based in the Custom’s Headquarters in Dhaka. Deputy and Assistant Commissioners are responsible at their respective posts for the monitoring of VAT collection, enforcing anti-smuggling activities, examination of imported goods, and management of international passenger movements.