ICMPD-Review-2015
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<strong>ICMPD</strong> Annual Report <strong>2015</strong><br />
37<br />
Capacity Building<br />
International Protection:<br />
<strong>2015</strong>, a Turning Point<br />
for the Global and<br />
European Protection<br />
Regime?<br />
The tragic deaths of asylum seekers and<br />
migrants en route to safety in the EU<br />
stunned Europe in <strong>2015</strong>, while the arrival<br />
of unprecedented flows of migrants and<br />
refugees put the functioning of the Common<br />
European Asylum System (CEAS) at stake.<br />
These developments shaped, to a large<br />
extent, the <strong>ICMPD</strong>’s asylum portfolio in <strong>2015</strong>.<br />
A “Refugee Crisis”?<br />
Since 2014, with the increasing flow of migrants and<br />
refugees, <strong>ICMPD</strong> has been actively involved in the<br />
debate on different levels, engaging its member<br />
states in discussions on responsibility sharing in the<br />
European context. During this time, the Asylum<br />
Programme has analysed, through research papers<br />
and roundtable exchanges among member state<br />
representatives, various responsibility-sharing tools,<br />
distribution keys, and recast CEAS instruments.<br />
In reaction to the tragic deaths at sea in April <strong>2015</strong><br />
and against the background of further increasing<br />
flows, the EC tabled the European Agenda on Migration.<br />
Its relocation and resettlement scheme defined<br />
the framework of further exchange in the framework<br />
of <strong>ICMPD</strong>’s Asylum Programme (complemented by<br />
the exchange among <strong>ICMPD</strong> member states on<br />
push and pull factors) and proposed a roundtable<br />
discussion on mass influx, smuggling, and the situation<br />
in the countries along the Western Balkan migration<br />
route. The composition of <strong>ICMPD</strong> member states<br />
proved crucial for a suc cessful debate involving not<br />
only EU member states but also countries along the<br />
Western Balkan route.<br />
<strong>ICMPD</strong>’s role in the context of the mass influx of mi -<br />
grants and refugees in <strong>2015</strong> was to provide a platform<br />
for our member states’ policymakers to exchange<br />
information on migratory trends, map developments,<br />
and complement the public debate. <strong>ICMPD</strong> published<br />
an updated paper on responsibility sharing, and<br />
various blog posts, mapping lessons learned and<br />
various EU and EU member state policies created in<br />
response to the so-called ‘refugee crisis’.
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