The Migration Podcast

Amidst the worsening conditions in Afghanistan, ICMPD's Migrant Resource Centres (MRC) remain agile and responsive. Through its strong engagement with communities, the MRCs adapt to the unique challenges of Afghans – especially women – since the fall of Kabul in 2021 that pushed over three million people to flee.

Samim Ahmadi, ICMPD's Project Manager for the Silk Routes region, shares his insights on their ongoing response to the new and often confronting realities of Afghans, and how the MRCs are reaching migrants more widely from across different time zones now. He also discusses their support to (potential) migrants on legal and safe pathways for migration, the distress and frustration that can happen during consultations, various forward-looking partnerships in Europe, and recent examples of how, particularly women, access academic and employment opportunities in the EU and beyond.

More information on Afghanistan's MRCs here.

In political discourses, migration is often linked with the legal or political conditions of migrants, and how this benefits them in their host countries. There are also prevailing, simplistic notions of "illegal" or "irregular" migration, with the narrative – including in the media – often focused largely on the status of migrants themselves.

In this episode of the Migration Podcast, ICMPD experts Veronika Bilger and Maegan Hendow discuss the results of a study conducted under the MIrreM project that highlights the many ways, policies, the key events, and the other actors beyond governments that influence how migrants fall out of, or into, an irregular status. The study tackles how governments have responded to the issue of irregular migration in their own unique ways, the policy shifts and their rationale, the barriers for migrants to seek pathways out of irregularity, or even choose to remain in their irregular status.

The full study may be downloaded here.

Brussels ushers in new leadership at the European Parliament in June. Migration, along with defence and the economy, will be a key issue to drive the changes in and for the next five years’ politics. To make sense of a future that this new set of leaders may draw up, it is vital to look back to the last five years’ key events that have shaped the migration narrative in Europe and beyond its borders.

Between COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that triggered the Temporary Protection status; ongoing refugee crises intensified by the fire in Greece’s Moria refugee camp and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan that drove scores of migrants in the Mediterranean; and finally, the adoption this year of The Pact on Migration and Asylum. ICMPD takes stock at the policy directions and, more importantly, what this means to people – those seeking to reach Europe, those who welcome them and those who ask the question of where we are headed, and those who can potentially enrich the region’s ability to sustain its future.

This extended episode of ICMPD’s Migration Podcast brings together two of our Experts, Hugo Brady and Martin Wagner. They discuss these key events and the policy directions in Brussels, the challenges and opportunities that migration has presented the EU, and the priority actions and policy recommendations that will guide the next five years for the new leaders in Brussels and the rest of the European community. 

In a year full of elections, ICMPD expects migration to be a pivotal topic. While many governments implement quick fixes ahead of their electoral cycles, opposition parties are tying their campaigns to migration-related promises. 

ICMPD’s 2024 Migration Outlook report forecasts record displacement levels resulting from war and conflict, leading to a further securitization of migration and offshoring of asylum procedures, as well as a rise in secondary movements. These developments are taking place while labour migration is ‘coming of age’ in Europe. The main author of the report, Martin Hofmann, ICMPD Principal Advisor provides an overview.

The Vienna Migration Conference is an annual event organised by ICMPD since 2016. It gathers decision-makers in the migration sphere and provides an informal platform to discuss and connect on anything migration.

In this podcast episode, we are inviting ICMPD Deputy Director General Lukas Gehrke and ICMPD Head of Policy Malin Frankenhaeuser to take us behind the scenes of the Vienna Migration Conference. 

Where would you turn to if you had the wish to work abroad but were unfamiliar with the labour laws in the country of your destination? How would you ensure that the information that you find online is accurate and reliable? 

In this episode, we delve into the critical role of Migrant Resource Centres (MRCs). Located throughout Central- and South Asia, they equip and empower migrants planning to work abroad,  as well as those who have already arrived in a country of destination or want to return home. Moreover, the Migrant Resource Centres carry out information campaigns to help prevent migrants from falling victim to smugglers and human traffickers. Meet our Senior Project Manager Roma Golda, who is joined by Tiba Ibrahim, MRC Counselor (Iraq) and Nadia Kashif, MRC Coordinator (Pakistan), who share their unique insights from the MRC’s work. Elisabeth Minkow moderates this episode.

Sudan – Africa’s third largest county with a population of 45 million has recently made headlines, resembling a nightmare scenario. On April 15th, a military conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces broke out, who had previously joined forces in a coup against the ruling president in 2019. One month in, 1000 civil casualties were reported, 5100 are injured. In an attempt to escape, it is estimated that already more than 100 thousand people have fled the country. Ayla Errin Bonfiglio, Regional Head of Eastern and Southern Africa, Yemen and Egypt from the Mixed Migration Centre and Barbara Salcher, Dialogue Coordinator of the Khartoum Process, elaborate on the current migration situation emerging from the conflict. The podcast is hosted by Elisabeth Minkow, ICMPD Communications Officer.

When bombs started falling on Ukraine in February 24, fellow Europeans were fast to open their homes to provide shelter to Ukrainians. The EU was fast to react, too. On 4 March, 22, it pulled the so-called Temporary Protection Directive, for the very first time. One year into the war, the Directive, that had proved to be effective, was prolonged for another year. Nevertheless, the question remains: What can be ways out of the Temporary Protection Directive? ICMPD Senior Policy Advisor, Asylum Expert Martin Wagner, reflects back and looks into the future of Temporary Protection Directive and why it’s important to start to look for exit strategies now.  

Migration is a global phenomenon, however, the majority of  migration movements happen within regions. The International Centre for Migration Policy Development identified six priority regions, in which operations take place in close cooperation with local partners. These regions include Western Balkans and Türkiye, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Silk Routes, Mediterranean, West Africa, Pan Africa Initiatives. In this podcast episode, we invited Mr. Martijn Pluim, Director Migration Dialogues and Cooperation, to provide an overview of the different regions' most pressing migration challenges in the year 2023. 

Europe and the EU are experiencing perhaps the most challenging times since the end of the Second World War, - in terms of the geopolitical situation and migration, flight and displacement. How will the war in Ukraine, economic recession, labour shortages and climate change affect migration in the EU in 2023? Martin Hofmann, ICMPD Principal Advisor provides an overview.