“It is a privilege for me to be able to present our audiences with the Asia Regional Factsheet. Having been personally involved in the design and execution of many of these Actions, it was very inspiring to take a look back at MIEUX’s work over the last 10 years with a fresh perspective. These publications enable us to both review our achievements and offer some suggestions for some of the most pressing issues in the region.”
Download the Asia Regional Factsheet
MIEUX and Asia
In terms of numbers, Asia is the most important region in the world for international migration. Between 2000 and 2017, Asia saw a higher increase in international migrants than any other region in the world with 1.8 million migrants per year, a total of 30 million over the whole period. Migration within Asia is the largest regional migration corridor in the world.
The search for better economic opportunities is one of the main drivers of migration in Central and South East Asia, resulting in increased vulnerability to labour and sexual exploitation. In consequence, the management of labour migration and fighting against Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) are two key topics in the region.
Since 2009, MIEUX has implemented 17 Actions, primarily focused on the two topics above through a variety of activities, namely, fact-finding missions; capacity building activities; and remote or on-site support to the development of operational tools documents, information and awareness-raising campaigns. As Ms Caterina Torchiaro, Project Officer - Asia explained,
“Given the sustained growth in numbers of emigrant workers, harnessing the opportunities that labour migration brings is a key priority for many Asian governments. At the same time, the search for a better life can turn into a nightmare, exposing migrants to all kinds of abuses. Thus, fighting exploitation and trafficking should be an integral part of migration management in Asia”.
Each of these 17 Actions was tailor-made to the national context. Some examples include:
- Supporting the government of Kyrgyzstan in designing a national information campaign on migration
- Working with the Filipino government to counter
illegal recruitment of migrant workers by producing a handbook for government officials and designing an awareness-raising campaign for migrant workers - Training migration officers in Timor-Leste in THB Investigation and THB case-preparation
Read about more examples by downloading the Asia Regional Factsheet
2008 - 2018: 10 years of MIEUX
In December 2008, the EU and ICMPD signed a partnership agreement that would launch the Migration EU Expertise Initiative. Ten years later, close to 130 countries and regional organisations have benefitted from MIEUX’s range of capacity building activities. Throughout 2018, MIEUX will reflect on how it has contributed to strengthening capacities to manage, develop, implement and evaluate migration in partner countries while fostering and advancing cooperation and coordination between multiple partners.