EMN Educational Seminar Migration Globally and Locally, Bratislava, 20 - 23 August 2012

Fifteen Slovak and foreign experts together with 37 employees of the state and public administration, non-governmental organizations and academic employees from Slovakia participated in the educational seminar entitled Migration Globally and Locally, which was organized from 20 to 23 August 2012 in Bratislava by the National Contact Point of the European Migration Network (EMN) in the Slovak Republic.

Experts from Bratislava, Prague, Oxford, Brighton, Brussels and Geneva presented various aspects of migration: migration as a global phenomenon, migration policy of the Slovak Republic in the global and EU context, labour migration worldwide and ability of the Slovak Republic to respond to labour market needs through migration, migration and development, forced migration and irregular migration.

Participants were welcomed by Zuzana Vatráľová, Head of the IOM International Organization for Migration Office in the Slovak Republic, who provided an overview of the current status of migration in Slovakia. The Slovak migration policy and trends in labour, irregular and forced migration were presented by the following speakers from Slovakia – Bernard Priecel, the Director of the Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, economists Tomáš Domonkos and Martin Kahanec, sociologist Oľga Gyárfášová and Peter Kresák, the UNHCR Head of Office in the Slovak Republic. Findings of the national EMN study and the role of EMN in the policy-making were presented by Andrea Mrlianová and Katarína Kubovičová, representatives of the EMN National Contact Point in the Slovak Republic from IOM Bratislava.

Foreign experts also lectured during the seminar. Simona Vezzoli from University of Oxford besides the presentation on migration trends engaged participants in a workshop exercise. Status of the EU migration policy was presented by Bernd Hemingway, the Regional Director of the IOM Regional Office for the EEA, the EU and NATO in Brussels. Laura Robson from ICF GHK, the EMN service provider from Brussels, spoke on the topic of labour and irregular migration and summarized the main findings of the EMN synthesis studies from all Member States. Anna Platonova from IOM Brussels devoted her presentation to global trends in labour migration. The lecture on migration and development was given by Ronald Skeldon from University of Sussex, followed by closely linked issue of remittances presented by Dušan Drbohlav from Charles University in Prague. Frank Laczko, Head of the Migration Research Division at IOM Headquarters in Geneva talked about global trends in irregular migration.

The seminar also included two evening programmes – discussion on integration of migrants Are we also at home here? preceded by a screening of the movie Next Door Family and introduction to trafficking in human beings preceded by a screening of the film 0800 800 818.

The seminar served as an opportunity to make new contacts on regional, national and international level, discuss and develop initiatives which can be used in the future capacity building and work in the field of migration. Knowledge and contacts gained during the seminar will be helpful in the participants’ further work – in policy-making, preparation of strategic materials, laws, statements, expert documents and academic papers on migration as well as practical implementation of migration policies or practical work with migrants.