Statement on the Partnership Principle in the EU Asylum and Migration Fund

In November 2011, the European Commission published a set of legislative proposals on EU funding in the area of Home Affairs for the period 2014-2020, which are currently being discussed by the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission. As part of these proposals, an Asylum and Migration Fund (AMF) will be created, which will play an important role in financing activities addressing the needs of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants across Europe.Read more

Taking convergence forward: New responsibility sharing and cooperation in migration, mobility and human development

Civil society is a converging network of actors genuinely aiming to collaborate better. While it is understood that many partners are in themselves already important networks (just like ICMC is through its worldwide network of members), the bigger network that is under construction will span many more and many different types of actors.

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Civil Society Statement and Recommendations on the future EU funding in the area of migration and asylum

BRUSSELS, 7 March 2012—On the occasion of the European Parliament's Hearing on “EU Funding on Migration, Integration and Asylum -Testing the Added Value”, ICMC has joined a coalition of over forty Civil Society Organizations across Europe active in the area of migration and asylum in presenting a number of key joint recommendations on the European Commission's proposals for funding EU policies in the area of Home Affairs.Read more

Right to Development: from rhetoric to action

GENEVA, 27 February 2012—ICMC has joined a group of twelve non-government organizations in emphasizing to the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council the importance of political, economic, cultural, ethical and spiritual dimensions of development in taking the right to development from rhetoric to action.Read more

ICMC joins Christian organizations in promoting family life and family reunification of third-country nationals in Europe

BRUSSELS, 29 February 2012—Together with a group of Brussels-based Christian organizations including Caritas Europa, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), the Jesuit Refugee Service-Europe and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME), ICMC today submitted comments to the European Commission calling for a plan of action for more human and evidence-based harmonization of the rights of migrant family members to family life and family reunification, and for correct implementation of existing legislation by EU member states.Read more

Panel on Migrants in Crisis Situations: Human Security Concerns

NEW YORK, 13 December 2011—ICMC U.S. Liaison Officer Jane Bloom speaks before the Panel on Migrants in Crisis Situations at the United Nations in New York, highlighting the weakened and precarious human security of migrants in conflict situations and the ongoing and critical need to strengthen emergency response and assure protection of the most vulnerable.Read more

Protection, governance and partnership in the ‘Seventh Decade’

GENEVA, 7 December 2011—Speaking at 100th Session of the Council of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), ICMC Head of Policy, John Bingham, emphasizes the need for greater global governance of migration, protection and partnership for the benefit of migrants and societies everywhere.Read more

Panel I: Migration Profiles as an ongoing process and Ways to Improve them

NEW YORK, 30 June 2011— Speaking at the Thematic Workshop for the Global Forum on Migration and Development at the United Nations in New York, ICMC Head of Policy, John Bingham, discusses the importance and evolution of the Migration Profiles project and civil society perspectives for improvement.Read more

Triple jeopardy: Young, migrant and stateless

GENEVA, 28 June 2011—Speaking as part of a panel of experts at the UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs, ICMC U.S. Liason Officer, Jane Bloom, discusses the intersections of migration and trafficking, of demographic imbalances and mobility, of cross-border marriages and lapses of nationality, all of which are "unfinished pieces" of the rapidly expanding globalization puzzle.Read more

Call for protection and assistance to migrants kidnapped and assaulted for ransom in the Sinai desert and elsewhere

GENEVA, 6 June 2011—Ethiopian Bishops’ Conference Secretary General and ICMC member, Abba Hagos Hayish, makes a plea to governments, international organizations and civil society representatives gathered at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, calling for action on behalf of the hundreds of migrants kidnapped and held hostage for ransom in the Sinai desert.Read more

Global governance in migration: Opting for a well-conceived process

ROME, 25 February 2011—Within the context of the global governance of migration, ICMC Secretary General Johan Ketelers emphasizes the need for long-term thinking, consideration of new relational viewpoints in which human dignity and family values remain prevalent, policies of inclusion and the consolidatation of societal cohesion in new, creative and proactive ways.Read more

From migration to trafficking: A slippery slope

KUALA LUMPUR, 16 February 2011—Gathered together with more than 50 counter trafficking experts from across South East Asia, ICMC U.S. Liaison Officer Jane Bloom presented workshop participants with an analysis of the multiple facets for migration and trafficking and the church's collective role in preventing trafficking, and in protecting those most likely to become victims.Read more

Message issued by the African participants of the SECAM-ICMC Consultation on migration

ROME, 17 November 2010—Leaders representing twenty-two national and regional Bishops’ Conferences of Africa share their final message following deliberations on new collaborative approaches to migration in and from the region.Read more