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The two year regional
programme, funded by the European Commission has
been launched in December 2005. The project aims
to deepen the benefits of an existing
inter-regional migration and asylum management
dialogue between the sending and transit
countries of the South Caucasus and receiving EU
Member States as well as non-EU Member States
such as Switzerland through the Cluster Process.
Target groups include government ministries
dealing with migration management; private
sector representatives; NGOs; and last but not
least the peoples of three Caucasus States. Main
activities include 1) organizing Cluster
meetings; 2) developing national Migration
Information Centres (MICs); 3) raising public
awareness on migration issues; 4) enhancing data
collection and processing; and 5) training
government officials responsible from migration
administration.
Key objectives include promotion of the Cluster
process dialogue on negotiations/actions on
readmission, return and reintegration, combating
irregular migration, and promoting legal
migration; establishment of MICs as a basis for
outreach, institutional sustainability and
information dissemination to promote legal
migration; dissemination of objective
information on foreign and domestic employment
opportunities, living and working conditions
abroad, and provision of legal counselling to
target groups through the MICs; processing data
collection and analysis; enhancement of labour
administration skills of public and private
sector. Within the framework of the project,
three Cluster meetings are planned to be carried
out as a follow-up to the meetings held in 2001
and 2002. The first meeting took place in
Brussels on 10-11 May 2006 and the second one in
Tbilisi on 14-15 March 2007.
Migration Information Centres, based in Baku and
Nakhchivan are devotedly involved in raising
awareness among the NGOs and the entire
community by providing free and anonymous
consultations to calling and visiting persons,
and to those seeking assistance through
internet. MIC staff deliver consultations on
legal migration opportunities and notifying the
target groups on risks of irregular migration,
including trafficking and smuggling. Published
materials such as flyers, stickers, calendars,
posters, etc. have been produced and
disseminated across Azerbaijan. Newspaper ads,
radio PSAs are also broadcasted through national
and local mass-media. IOM is going to produce
more flyers, brochures, TV PSAs and other
publications.
Training workshops in labour migration
management for government officials and private
sector representatives have been planned for the
second half of 2007 with an aim to enhance their
capabilities on managing the phenomenon of
labour migration more effectively in line
international standards.
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