NEWS:
Join the public consultation on the European Union's (EU) legislation on the legal migration of non-EU citizens (Fitness Check on EU legal migration legislation)
European Commission (EC) launched a public consultation on the European Union's (EU) legislation on the legal migration of non-EU citizens (Fitness Check on EU legal migration legislation) with the aim to collect evidence, experiences, data and opinions to support the evaluation, by the European Commission, of the existing EU legal framework for the legal entry and stay of nationals of non-EU countries to the EU Member States (legal migration).
The results of the evaluation will assist the European Commission to understand better whether the current legislation is ‘fit for purpose’ and will be used to identify if the legal framework, can be improved and if so how.
You can join the public consultation by filling the online questionnaire until 18 September 2017. More information is available on the EC website. Replies may be submitted in any EU official language. Given possible delays in translating comments submitted in some languages, contributions in English are welcome, as they will help the Commission to process the survey more swiftly.
Refugee camp - my home: EMN Discussion Evening with documentary screening, 4 July 2017, Bratislava
On 4 July at 6:30pm a Discussion Evening with screening of the documentary film “Salam Neighbor” and a video message from the directors Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci will take place in Kino Lumière, Bratislava. As the first filmmakers they were allowed to live for a month inside a UNHCR refugee camp Za'atari in Jordan near Syrian borders. It is one of the biggest refugee camps in the world with currently more than 80 000 Syrian refugees.
Zach and Chris uncover inspiring stories of individuals rallying, against all odds, to rebuild their lives and those of their neighbours. The films follows a story of Um Ali, a woman struggling to overcome personal loss and cultural barriers, and the street smart boy Raouf, whose trauma hides just beneath his ever present smile.
The film won awards at several film festivals.
The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Kilian Kleinschmidt about the dire conditions which refugees face. Kilian is a former director of Za’atari refugee camp in Northern Jordan and has over 25 years of hand-on experience in humanitarian aid and work with refugees. As an international networker, he is now challenging the Humanitarian Aid Sector through a range of new and unorthodox partnerships, technologies and ways of financing (www.switxboard.net).
The discussion will be held in English with no interpreting provided.
The entrance is free (tickets will be available at Kino Lumière from Sunday, 2 July 2017).
Link on Facebook event is available here.
Film Screening: The Good Lie, 3 July 2017, Bratislava
EMN has prepared a screening of the film The Good Lie by Philippe Falardeau, about the “Lost Boys of Sudan”. Screening will take place on 3 July at 8pm in Kino Lumière in Bratislava. The entrance is free (tickets will be available at Kino Lumière from Sunday, 2 July 2017).
About the film:
A group of young refugees orphaned by the civil war in Sudan that began in 1983 are given a chance to resettle in the United States from a Kenyan refugee camp where they have lived for 13 years. After arriving in Kansas City, Missouri, their encounter with an employment agency counsellor forever changes all of their lives.
Link on Facebook event is available here.
European Commission prepared EMN Bulletin’s eighteenth issue
European Commission’s current issue of the EMN Bulletin informs about actual situation, outputs and statistics in the field of migration, integration and international protection at EU and Member State level. It covers the period of time from January to March 2017 and is available in English.
Older issues of the EMN Bulletin can be found on the EMN central website.
EMN Platform on Statelessness
There are approximately 600.000 stateless persons in Europe. Given that statelessness is both a cause and a consequence of forced displacement, these numbers may increase due to the migration situation. This is one of the reasons why the Justice and Home Affairs Council conclusions of 3 and 4 December 2015 mandated the European Migration Network (EMN) to establish the EMN Platform on Statelessness. This platform, established on 20 May 2016, intends to bring the exchange of information and good practices, raise awareness regarding this phenomenon and to bring all the relevant stakeholders in the field together.
Among its activities were gathering the information via ad hoc query and creating an EMN Inform which was, in collaboration with UNHCR and European Network on Statelessness presented to the representatives of Member States’ Permanent Representation to the European Union and subsequent conference on 18 January 2017 on the topic of addressing the statelessness in the EU, that also evaluated the progress made after one year of the existence of the Platform.
More information on the Platform, its activities as well as conference conclusions can be found in English here.
EMN cordially invites you to the 5th Educational Seminar on Migration: Addressing the Needs of Forced Migrants in the 21st Century
International Organization for Migration (IOM) as the EMN coordinator for Slovakia is organising the 5th Educational Seminar on Migration entitled “Addressing the needs of forced migrants in the 21st century” to be held in Falkensteiner Hotel Bratislava, Slovakia on 3 - 5 July 2017.
The seminar will welcome experts from international organisations, institutions and non-governmental organisations who will be lecturing about migratory trends and international governance, enhancement of safe and legal pathways for migrants, protection of migrants, and empowerment of refugees of the 21st century. They will present, among others, experiences from the West Africa, Middle East and Afghanistan.
More information about the seminar can be found here.
New EMN Synthesis Report: Family Reunification of Third Country Nationals (TCNs) in the EU plus Norway (2016)
The EMN Synthesis Report identifies both commonalities and differences between EU (Member) States’ and Norway's policies and practices on family reunification, which depend to a great extent on EU (Member) States’ discretion, despite being guided by the framework established by the Family Reunification Directive (2003/86/EC) at EU level. The report provides up-to-date information and highlights a number of modifications which have been adopted by some EU (Member) States and Norway since 2011. Moreover, it also includes a review of some of the relevant case law in the field of family reunification.
Report can be downloaded in English language. National study of the Slovak republic in English can be downloaded in the form of a questionnaire here. National studies of other EU Member States and Norway on the same topic can be found here. A synthesis report is also available summarised in an inform.
Foreign and local experts discussed in Bratislava the role of municipalities in the integration of refugees
International Organization for Migration (IOM) as the coordinator of the EMN National Contact Point for the Slovak Republic organised a National EMN Conference on the Role of Municipalities in the Integration of Refugees held in Bratislava on 23 March 2017.
The programme of the conference was divided into two panels. The first panel aimed at good practices, lessons learnt as well as challenges in the refugee integration by selected European municipalities in practice with focus on housing, education, employment, socio-cultural orientation, work with a local community and other aspects which should be considered. Namely, representatives from the Czech Republic (Bzenec municipality), Sweden (Åre municipality), Germany (Nuremberg municipality) and Austria (Vienna municipality) presented within the panel. The second panel was devoted to the current state of play in integration at local level in Slovakia. Among panel speakers were representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior, Association of Towns and Communities of Slovakia, the non-governmental organizations ADRA Slovakia / OZ Marginal, Initiative Who Will Help? and the Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture (CVEK). The current EU policy framework was introduced by a representative of the European Commission.
The Conference welcomed more than 60 participants who were mainly representatives of Slovak municipalities, public and state administration the third sector and international organisations.
Presentations and photos from the event are available here.
Online Asylum and Migration Glossary with terms translated into Slovak and other 22 European languages
EMN regularly updates English version of the online Asylum and Migration Glossary which contains more than 450 expert terms and their translations into 23 European languages including Slovak.
Latest edition of the Glossary from October can be downloaded in the form of publication here.
More information about the Glossary can be found here.
Soon to come
- EMN studies in 2017: Challenges and Practices for Establishing Applicants’ Identity in the Migration Process, The Impact of EU Rules on the Effectiveness of Return in the Member States: Challenges and Good Practise, The Changing Influx of Asylum Seekers in 2015-2016: Member State Responses, Unaccompanied Minors After the Asylum Process, Annual Report on Migration and Asylum Policies in the Slovak Republic in 2016.
- EMN studies for 2016: Annual Report on Migration and Asylum Policies in the Slovak Republic in 2015, Family Reunification of Third Country Nationals in the EU: National Practices, Illegal Employment of Third Country Nationals.
Co-funded by the European Union 
