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Special Coordinator
of the Stability Pact for
South Eastern Europe
 Rue Wiertz, 50
B-1050 Brussels
Belgium
Phone: +32 (2) 401 87 00
Fax: +32 (2) 401 87 12
Email: scsp@stabilitypact.org

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Migration, Asylum & Refugees

Activity Report
January - November 2004

1. Regional Forum

Establishment

The first meeting of the MARRI Regional Forum was convened by the SEECP in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, 5 - 6 April 2004. The ministerial SEECP meeting then decided to establish a political and professional regional platform on the MARRI issues, involving Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia & Montenegro. A Memorandum of Understanding confirming this decision was consequently signed on 2nd of July in Tirana amongst the five states. The Regional Forum composed of Ministers and Senior Officials responsible for migration, asylum, border management, visa and sustainable solutions for displacement has met for the second political meeting on 16th of November in Skopje. Other expert meetings and seminars were held in the context of the Regional Forum.
Institutional Framework

The Regional Forum operates within the framework of SEECP, but with separate meetings (Regional Forum) for the five member countries and with its own presidency based upon annual rotation.

Presidency

At the Regional Forum meeting it was decided by consensus that from 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 Albania would hold the Presidency of the Regional Forum. In the period from 1 April 2005 - 31 March 2006, the Presidency of the Forum will be held by Serbia-Montenegro, through the Republic of Montenegro. The current Presidency in Office has since held frequent bi-lateral consultations to promote the support to MARRI and particularly fulfil the commitment for secondment of experts to the MARRI Regional Center, serving as Secretariat to the Regional Forum.

Competence

The meetings of the Regional Forum take place at an informal level; i.e. the Forum and its sub-committees provide a platform for internal consultations and recommendations, but without binding decisions being taken by the Forum. The authority of taking decisions remains with the national governments.

Relations with Stability Pact and its Member States, International Organizations and Institutions

The Regional Forum will seek support and advice of the International Community through the “Friends of the Regional Forum” which should be convened by the Presidency of the Regional Forum twice per year. The “Friends of the Regional Forum” will supersede the previous MARRI steering committee.

As consequence of the transfer of responsibility from the Stability Pact to regional ownership, the Forum and the Regional Center are not part of the Stability Pact. However, the Regional Forum and the Regional Center wish to maintain a close partnership with the Stability Pact and will inform the Stability Pact during the meetings of the Working Tables and the Regional Table Meetings about the ongoing activities.

2. MARRI Regional Center

At the Regional Forum meeting it was decided to establish an administrative/supportive structure - the MARRI Regional Centre - to support the Regional Forum. The Regional Centre is located in Skopje and the Government of Macedonia has provided facilities, running costs and the required institutional framework for the centre. A host agreement regulating the legal status of the Center as an inter-governmental institution with a diplomatic status has been signed on 15 November in Tirana. As it was agreed that the Regional Centre should be composed of a majority of experts from the region, secondment procedures and financial conditions were discussed in a regional expert meeting on 7th October. The MARRI Centre has been officially opened on 18th of November according to schedule. The Head of the Center and Executive Secretary of the Regional Forum, Mr. Thomas Birath, has been appointed by the MARRI Presidency-in-Office and the outgoing MARRI Chairman Mr. Soren Jessen-Petersen in August 2004 and has arrived in Skopje on 2 September. The MARRI Regional Center should be fully operational and staffed by January 2005.

Functions

  1. The Regional Center shall work at the regional level in the SAp countries in the field of asylum, migration, border management, visa regime and sustainable solutions for displacement. It will focus on efforts to strengthen the management of population movements in the areas of migration, asylum and displacement issues.
  2. The Regional Forum shall guide the Regional Center. The Centre shall report to the Forum.
  3. The Regional Center shall initiate, facilitate and co-ordinate activities approved by the Regional Forum at regional level.
  4. The Regional Center shall facilitate the establishment of legislation, institutional building, capacity building and information exchange in the region in line with the Thessaloniki Agenda in order to meet international and European standards.
  5. The Regional Center shall contribute to the harmonization of legislation and systems in line with European standards.

Activities

  1. Facilitate the development of training programs at regional level in the field of asylum, migration, etc.
  2. Contribute to the development of partnership arrangements, and co-operation and exchange of information between the SAp countries and neighbouring countries to combat irregular migration.
  3. Facilitate the implementation of the initiative "Access to Rights and Citizenship".
  4. Promote the access to high quality country of origin information.
  5. Support the development of a region-wide information technology system – Regional Information Exchange – to manage migration movements.
  6. Contribute to the establishment of a regional pool of interpreters and regional counsellors.
  7. Contribute to the successful implementation of the Ohrid Border process.
  8. Facilitate the development of a harmonized visa policy and a visa free area in the region.
  9. Support the finalization and implementation of National Action Plans.

3. Evolution of former MARRI Structures

Steering Committee and Chairman

The Regional Forum will seek support and advice of the International Community through the “Friends of the Regional Forum” which should be convened by the Presidency of the Regional Forum at least twice per year. The “Friends of the Regional Forum” will supersede the previous MARRI Steering committee. Whether the "Friends" will need a new Chair to replace the former chairman of the Steering Committee, Mr. Soren Jessen-Petersen, who had been confirmed as chairman of the “Friends of the Regional Forum”, still needs to be discussed. Such a Chair would convey the advice and political support of the "Friends" to the MARRI Presidency, might ensure that international organisations and governments are kept informed and might seek the necessary technical and financial support where required.

MARRI Offices

The MARRI secretariat in Vienna has terminated its activities and the office was closed on 30 June 2004.
In the period 1 July – 31 August the MARRI Liaison Office in Brussels has been in charge of all MARRI activities. The MARRI Head of Office in Brussels, Mr. Kilian Kleinschmidt, will remain in this position until his departure at the end of 2004. A Liaison Officer, Mr. Bart Laan, responsible for the liaison between the Stability Pact and the Regional Forum/Regional Center and providing expert advice within Working Table III has been assigned to the Stability Pact in Brussels with the kind support of the Government of Switzerland, replacing Ms. Daria Nashat.

4. Update on MARRI Achievements

National Action Plans

The National Action Plans for Croatia and Macedonia are finalized, adopted and under implementation. In Macedonia, training of staff is supported by Sweden and drafting of a new migration law is supported by Norway. In Croatia the EU is financing twinning type projects between Germany and Croatia on integrated Border Management and Asylum.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina the Country Team adopted the NAP on 28 January 2004. The plan was approved by the Council of Ministers on 4 April 2004

The Country Team for Serbia and Montenegro was reorganized with support of the MARRI secretariat. In a meeting in Podgorica on 21 January 2004, it was decided to develop separate NAPs for Serbia and Montenegro, but to have one joint preamble with the principles and elements common to both plans.

In Albania the implementation of the NAP chapter on asylum is ongoing under the supervision of UNHCR and The Netherlands. During the Country Team meeting in March 2004, the participants agreed to continue the completion and development of the NAP chapter on migration and border management .

Workshops on Illegal Migration

1. Workshop with Sap countries and Accession countries– Exchange of Information and lessons learned in the field of reducing irregular migration. The workshop has been financed by Norway and been implemented by IOM.

Activities:

  • Identification of officials in the Accession Countries of Central Europe who have the required expertise and knowledge of systems dealing with irregular migration, migration and legislation. Status completed
  • Gathering of existing legislation in the field of irregular migration in the five SAp countries in four broad categories: 1) Asylum & Refugee Protection, 2) Border Control (ports of entry), 3) Smuggling & Trafficking, 4) Labour Migration.
  • The MARRI Secretariat, in close co-operation with IOM and the supporting governments, will chair a four-day workshop (Country and City to be decided). Held in June 2004.
  • An informal summary of the workshop proceedings has been be published by IOM and distributed among all participants, together with a report on follow up recommendations. Published in July 2004.

2. Workshop on Irregular Migration – Setting up of a regional mechanism to support negotiations with source countries, transit countries and countries of destination with the aim to reduce irregular migration. The project is funded by Norway and implemented by IOM.

A first Workshop will be held in the MARRI Regional Center in Skopje from 23-25 November

  • IOM identifies in close co-operation with the concerned authorities of the five SAp countries, the concerned source, transit and destination countries along a particular migration route, which should be invited for the meetings.
  • Each participating government identifies, in consultation with IOM, the participants, who should be few, knowledgeable, representative and empowered to discuss the subject of irregular migration and return of rejected asylum seekers and irregular migrants (April 2004).
  • IOM conducts consultations and liaises with all representatives of participating states and agrees with the timeframes and a calendar of meetings (May-June 2004)

Access to Rights

The Access to rights program aims at achieving unimpeded and non-discriminatory access to all those still displaced citizens of the region (5 SAp countries) to their basic human, economic and social rights in the five years to come and eventually expand to larger groups of vulnerable citizens in the region.

Objectives

  • Identification of shortcomings and gaps in the legal framework, the relevant implementation instruments and the level of access of the citizens to these with specific attention to property rights, social rights such as pensions, health and education, employment and citizenship.
  • Agreement and consensus on the status, gaps and adequate action through a consultative process on national and regional level, bringing state and non-state actors, including civil society, to cooperate.
  • Introduction and implementation of sustainable national and regional mechanisms for monitoring and reporting on the progress of implementation.

As a result of extensive consultations with governments, international organizations and civil society, the project proposal has been finalized. A first ATR Consortium meeting comprising international organizations, civil society and donors has taken place. The facilitator for the program is the Danish Refugee Council (DRC). Initial funding of 300,000 EUR has been secured from Ireland. Denmark has informed that it will financially support the program with some 1 Mio EUR. Germany has confirmed a contribution of 300,000 EUR. The total project requirement over 4 years is estimated at some 5.5 Mio EUR. A planned cooperation with the European Commission (Regional CARDS Funds) could not be finalized.

The program will be supervised by the MARRI secretariat in Brussels until the full capacity of the Regional Centre in Skopje has been established and the ATR Secretariat been established within the center. With regard to the civil society component of the program, DRC will facilitate the implementation. The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) will provide advisory services to the project secretariat and national secretariats on the implementation of the state component.

Regional Information Exchange

For the management of population movements, safe cross border data exchange is a core issue. Following a request from the states concerned, MARRI, in close coordination with other relevant partners, established the Regional Information Exchange (RIE) Initiative, which aims to find means and ways to fill identified gaps in information management and exchange and data protection.

Since its launch in 2003, the RIE Initiative continues paving the way for secure and efficient management of data related to displaced populations including cross border exchange. While the ultimate objective of this program is to allow for safe regional data exchange between states, it increasingly focuses on capacity building for the national level and the promotion of data protection legislation, often still absent or not respected. The issue of data protection has been identified by a range of Stability Pact Initiatives such as SPAI and SPOC as a major legal impediment to regional cooperation and the RIE facilitator team remains at disposal to provide support where required. In addition, at the national level RIE assists in the transfer of data previously managed by international players to the national governments (so far Bosnia Herzegovina).

Often considered as a third party involved in this sensitive issue, the RIE so far has not received universal support and even some explicit criticism as regards its approach by some members of the international community. As a result, RIE has been facing a major funding shortage, now covered with the support of Germany and the UK until 2/2005. Additional 500,000 EUR will be required until the end of 2005 to build up the necessary capacity within the center. A regional expert meeting amongst the states of the region held in July in Herceg Novi concluded that the four proposed RIE modules had to be considered as a core function of the MARRI Regional Center.

Housing Policy and Finance

MARRI and formerly the Regional Return Initiative (RRI), has been very active in promoting the housing sector and the need for housing policy and affordable housing finance since 2001. Now that MARRI and its activities are managed from and by the region, the decision has been made to fully integrate the housing sector in Working Table II in order to ensure the necessary synergies with the other Stability Pact initiatives. MARRI, however, remains interested by progress made as regards access to housing finance and the developing of housing policy, including the legalization of informal settlements, often occupied by displaced, returnees or potentially mobile populations.



(C) Stability Pact 2005 - Disclaimerby Tagomago Studio