Prague Process (co-operation in migration management)
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| Formation | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Membership | 50 members |
Official languages | English, Russian |
| Website | www |
The Prague Process is a regional policy process and a targeted migration dialogue promoting migration partnerships among its 50 participating states of the European Union, Schengen Area, Eastern Partnership, the Western Balkans, Central Asia, and Turkey. [1][2][3][4][5]
The Process was developed as a part of the EU external migration and asylum policy in line with the overarching framework called the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM).[6] In the context of the GAMM the Prague Process has been given a priority as a regional dialogue process towards the East.[7][8]
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The Prague Process originated from the EU financed project "Building Migration Partnerships", and was initiated during the Czech EU Presidency with the signature of the Prague Process Joint Declaration at the Ministerial Conference in April 2009.[9][2]
In the Joint Declaration the participating states agreed to "strengthen co-operation in migration management, to explore and develop agreed principles and elements for close migration partnerships between their countries, following a comprehensive, balanced, pragmatic and operational approach, and respecting the rights and human dignity of migrants and their family members, as well as of refugees."[10] The Joint Declaration together with the Prague Process Action Plan 2012–2016, adopted at the second Ministerial Conference of the Prague Process in Poznan in November 2011, set the key principles, and main co-operation areas (mirror the GAMM), which are as follows:
- Preventing and fighting illegal migration;
- Readmission, voluntary return and sustainable reintegration;
- Legal migration with a special emphasis on labour migration;
- Integration of legally residing migrants;
- Migration, mobility and development;
- Strengthening capacities in the area of asylum and international protection (this topic was first brought up in the Action Plan).[11]
The Ministerial Declaration signed by the parties at the 3rd Prague Process Ministerial Conference in Bratislava gave a mandate to the Process for the years 2017–2021.[12][13] The 4th Ministerial Conference held in Prague under the Czech EU Presidency in October 2022 saw the adoption of the Joint Declaration and the Prague Process Action Plan 2023-2027.
