EMN Studies and Policy Briefs

The study identifies similarities, differences, practical challenges, and best practices in the use of detention and alternatives to detention in the Member States within the framework of both international protection and return procedures. Categories of third-country nationals considered include: international protection applicants and third-country nationals who have been issued a return decision. The study pays special attention to the use of detention and alternatives to detention in relation to vulnerable persons such as minors, families with children, pregnant women, and people with special needs.

The study aims to explore the national measures and experiences around detection, identification and protection of third-country national victims of trafficking in human beings between 2015 and 2020. It covers migrants who are asylum applicants, in an irregular situation and in possession of a valid authorisation to stay in a country where they are. The study also maps the cooperation between countries at the European and international level. It identifies the main challenges and good practices in respect of the impact of COVID-19.

The report provides an overview of the progress achieved in 2020 in the implementation of recommendations laid down in the European Commission Communication on the protection of children in migration from 2017. The report is divided into six chapters: identification, registration, reception and asylum procedures, guardianship for unaccompanied minors, alternative (non-institutional) care, access to education (including early childhood education), access to justice, detention and alternatives to detention.

The Overview describes how main asylum and migration policies related to third-country nationals are organised in the Slovak Republic from the institutional perspective as well as from the perspective of their mutual relations. It is based on the information valid as of September 2021. Overviews are available also for other EU Member States, Georgia, Moldova and Norway.

The study provides an overview of existing policies and practices in EU Member States and Norway towards third-country nationals in a prolonged situation of irregular stay. The study focuses on those third-country nationals subject to a return decision but whose return was not enforced or was postponed, and on those without a return decision who are unknown to the authorities. The study looks into national legislative framework and policies towards irregular migrants. It maps approaches to different types of services for this category of migrants and their provision. It describes the ways of ending the long-term irregular stay. Finally, it deals with the challenges and future measures to address the situation of long-term irregular migrants that could be implemented at the EU level. The chapters also reflect on the pandemic situation.

The study maps the approaches of EU Member States and Norway to data management in different phases of the asylum procedure (making, registering, lodging and examining of the application). It covers the situation and development in the area for the period 2014-2020. It provides comparable information and examples touching different aspects of data management, including data cross-checking against national and international databases, data quality accuracy, and data protection issues. It also maps challenges and related responses. The study also briefly examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on data management in asylum procedure. The statistics cover the period 2014-2019.

The report maps the progress made by the EU Member States and Norway in 2019 with regards to the implementation of the recommendations laid down in the Commission Communication on the protection of children in migration. The report covers the following areas of protection: swift and comprehensive identification and protection; providing adequate reception in the EU; ensuring swift and effective access to status determination procedures and implementation of procedural safeguards; detention for the purpose of return of unaccompanied minors and families with children; ensuring durable solutions; transition to adulthood; cross-cutting actions.

The briefing paper is a summary of an online Roundtable on Sustainable migration from Africa to Europe that was organized by the European Migration Network (EMN) and EMN Norway on 9 December 2020. It focuses on the concept of sustainable migration by considering the whole-of-route approach from countries of origin to destination. By bringing together policymakers, researchers and representatives of different sectors and perspectives, the event brought a better understanding of how to design sustainable migration policies that work for Europe and non-European countries.