Partners in the Region
UNHCR Regional Representation in Budapest cooperates with various international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations in the region. Cooperation ranges from mutual information sharing and debates to coordination of activities or joint projects in the field of migration, asylum and statelessness.
In 2002 ACCORD together with UNHCR and the German partner organization Informationsverbund Asyldeveloped the online country of origin information system Ecio.net. This is a public database providing up-to-date country of origin information with a special focus on the needs of asylum lawyers, refugee counsels and persons deciding on claims for asylum and other forms of international protection.
Link: http://www.ecoi.net/
Budapest Process
The Budapest Process is a consultative forum of more than 50 Governments and 10 international organisations, aiming at developing comprehensive and sustainable systems for orderly migration. It involves States from the wider European region and is dealing with topics such as regular and irregular migration, asylum, visa, border management, trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants, readmission, return, etc. The secrertariat of the Budapest Process is with à ICMPD.
Link: http://www.icmpd.org
The European Council on Refugees and Exiles is a pan-European network of refugee-assisting non-governmental organisations that promotes a humane and generous European asylum policy. ECRE promotes the protection and integration of asylum-seekers, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and strives to include the voice of wider civil society and refugee communities in their work.
Link: http://www.ecre.org/
FRONTEX is an EU agency based in Warsaw. It was created as a specialised and independent body tasked to coordinate the operational cooperation between Member States in the field of border security.
Link: http://www.frontex.europa.eu/
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) is a body of the European Union established in early 2007. It is based in Vienna and is built on the previous European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). The of the Agency is the collection of information and data collection, research and analysis, advice to EU institutions and Member States as well as co-operation with civil society and lat, but not least, awareness-raising.
Link: http://fra.europa.eu/fra/index.php
General Directors' Immigration Services Conference is a network in principal for Directors or Directors General of Immigration Services of EU Member States. GDISC aims to promote operational co-operation between the services responsible for the implementation of migration and asylum issues by exchanging experience and best practice and by building up networks of experts.
Link: http://www.gdisc.org/index.php?id=134
The International Centre for Migration Policy Development is an inter-governmental organisation based in Vienna. The purpose of the Centre is to promote innovative, comprehensive and sustainable migration policies and to function as an exchange mechanism for governments and organisations in the wider European region.
Link: http://www.icmpd.org/
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and international violence and to provide them with assistance. It is at the origin of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The ICRC's Regional Delegation that covers the countries in eastern EU is based in Budapest.
Link: http://www.icrc.org
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is the world's largest humanitarian organization, providing assistance without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. The Federation carries out relief operations to assist victims of disasters. The Regional Delegation for Central Europe is based in Budapest.
Link: http://www.voroskeresztbp.hu/content_9-hu.html
IOM is an inter-governmental organization in the field of migration. It was established in 1951 and works with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners. IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration. Their activities include the promotion of international migration law, policy debate, the protection of migrants' rights, migration health and the gender dimension of migration.
Link: http://www.iom.hu/
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is an institution of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). ODIHR is based in Warsaw amd is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of election, non-discrimination, and rule of law.
Link: http://www.osce.org/odihr/
The Soderkoping Process
To address the cross-border co-operation issues arising with the EU enlargement eastwards and to promote dialogue on asylum and irregular migration issues among the countries situated along the EU eastern border, 'The Soderkoping process' was launched in early 2001. The process encompasses Belarus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine, and is supported by the European Commission (EC), the Swedish Migration Board, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the International Organization for Migration.
Link: www.soderkoping.org.ua
The Visegrad Group (also 'V4') reflects the efforts of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to work together in a number of fields of common interest within the all-European integration. The V4 wishes to contribute towards building the European security architecture within existing European and transatlantic institutions. All the activities of the Visegrad Group are aimed at strengthening stability in the Central European region.
Link: http://www.visegradgroup.eu/
