Heavy seasonal rainfall starting in December 2014 caused flooding across Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. In Malawi, the floods caused extensive damage to crops, livestock and infrastructure. The southern districts of Nsanje, Chikwawa, Phalombe and Zomba were the most affected. In response, the President of the Republic of Malawi declared a State of Disaster in 15 out of 28 affected districts on 13 January 2015. As of 11 March more than 106 have been reported dead, 172 are still missing and 230,000 people remain displaced. Following a request from the Malawian government, the PDNA tripartite partners, (UN, EU and WB) deployed a team of national and international experts to support government officials in assessing the floods’ impact and to identify actions and resources needed for recovery.Based upon the ILO’s Employment and Livelihoods assessment, it is estimated that out of 359,000 household enterprises, 15,000 have been destroyed and 19,000 damaged, resulting in 4 million work days. An additional income loss of 8 million USD is expected as a result of permanently or temporarily disrupted business operations.

The approach of states to managing immigration and asylum relies to a significant extent on the assignment of categories to people entering from abroad and residing in the country. Among these categories are regular migrant, labour migrant, irregular migrant, asylum seeker, refugee, unaccompanied child, smuggled migrant and trafficked person. Each of these categories has a specific definition in national law, and so every person migrating into a country fits into one of these categories – or at least that is how we understand migration and migration policies. There are indeed many reasons why this categorisation is necessary – each category has specific rights attached to it, and describes the situation that each person is in. Those of us working on migration policy also apply these categories in order to guide the scope of our work. However, in responding to mixed migration flows to Europe during the past few years, this has been a challenge. Some people are experts on human trafficking, while others are experts on asylum and refugees. Other people are experts on irregular migration or migrant smuggling, while still others are experts on children in a migration context. Yet to comprehend these migratory movements, it is necessary to understand legislation, policy and practice in all of these areas, because the adults and children who travelled along the Balkan and Mediterranean routes to European Union (EU) countries during the past three years did not fit neatly into just one of these categories. In fact most of them fell under a number of categories at once. What has been referred to as the “politics of labelling” in the area of mixed migration – the politically loaded use of certain terms to elicit particular responses to groups of people – is usually discussed in relation to the choice as to whether to use the term “migrant” or “refugee” (Whitham, 2017). This highlights the sometimes artificial distinctions embedded within the language of migration and the use of “language, definitions and categorisations” to determine the rights and treatment afforded to different people (Dolan, 2017). Acknowledging that multiple categories can be applied to individual people in this context is problematic, because states and service providers, as well as researchers and policy advisors, depend on the application of these categories in order to make sense of their work. This paper examines the challenges, and some possible ways forward, in dealing with the nexus between asylum, migration management and combatting human trafficking in mixed migration contexts in general.

The manual is produced in the framework of the Prague Process Migration Observatory implemented through the “Prague Process: Dialogue, Analyses and Training in Action” (PP DATA) initiative, funded by the European Union and implemented by ICMPD in its capacity of Prague Process Secretariat. PP DATA aims at sustaining and further enhancing the cooperation established in the area of migration and asylum between the countries of the European Union, the Schengen Area, the Eastern Partnership, the Western Balkans, Central Asia, Russia and Turkey. The goal of this manual is to guide its users in developing and delivering training sessions covering ten key areas concerning combating trafficking in human beings. The manual provides content and technical implementation information for each session, as well as brief instructions on the process of teaching and useful insights about adult learning. The manual is developed to serve the anti-trafficking stakeholders from the participating countries of Prague Process. The Manual is a practical guide that can be adapted to fit the training needs of the participants. It can be used for in-house trainings, delivered by professionals with a certain level of training experience to an audience with no or basic knowledge on the topic of trafficking in human beings, or it can also be used for training-of-trainers programmes. Having in mind the diversity of the human trafficking phenomenon across the Prague Process region and the specificities of the national anti-trafficking responses, the manual is designed in a way that can be also adapted to any country-specific context. The information for the manual was collected through desk research of the available handbooks and manuals on the topic of combating trafficking in human beings, adding the knowledge and expertise of ICMPD Anti-trafficking Programme.

This document explains why there is an elevated risk of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, who is likely to be most affected and what operational approaches can be adopted to prevent, mitigate or respond to SGBV by Movement actors. The guidance also includes diplomatic messages to support decision-makers in preventing and responding to SGBV and brief guidance on how to ensure staff and volunteers are protected in their SGBV prevention and response efforts.

The Coronavirus is spreading globally. How can individuals, communities and humanitarian actors best respond to the COVID-19 outbreak? How can the Sphere Handbook guide our response?

Smuggling and Trafficking in Central and Eastern Europe. The yearbook gives an overview of developments in the area of irregular migration, human smuggling and trafficking in the wider Central and Eastern European region in 2010. The information provided in the yearbook was collected through a questionnaire distributed to border agencies, ministries of the interior and other national authorities dealing with issues related to irregular migration. The data is directly obtained from states’ authorities and therefore provides authentic information as reported by the contact points. The country chapters summarise the developments in each of the countries or territories. After many years of decreasing numbers of apprehensions, the overall numbers of migration-related border apprehensions increased slightly in the region in 2010. While Greece and Turkey remained the countries reporting by far the most apprehensions, considerable numbers of apprehensions were also found in Albania as well as in Hungary. Citizens from Ukraine and the Russian Federation were often among the top citizenship groups apprehended for illegal entry or stay in the region. The number of human smugglers apprehended decreased, while the number of smuggled persons increased in the region. Also, the number of victims of trafficking increased in the region. The special topic of this year’s edition is detention of asylum seekers and migrants prior to deportation. The data provided in this yearbook provides a unique overview of practices and statistics on the detention of migrants in terms of the use of detention centres, numbers of persons in detention and maximum duration allowed for detaining migrants. The yearbook aims to support fact-based discussions on irregular migration and contribute to well-informed policy decisions.

The draft Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Identification and Referral of Trafficked Persons in Lebanon have been elaborated in the framework of the project ‘’Training to Enhance Lebanese Anti-trafficking Effort (TELAE): Identification, Referral and Policy Responses’’ implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and financially supported by the United States Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The SOPs are carefully in line with human rights and international standards and policy developments. The SOPs are adapted to the national procedures and anti-trafficking legislation in Lebanon, Law Number 164 Punishment of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons, and are meant to build upon the existing national mechanisms and take them a step further towards more coordinated action. The draft document, divided into two Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) sections, was jointly developed and validated by the nominated focal points from the relevant governmental, non- governmental and international organizations in Lebanon. Each institution/organization nominated two representatives to participate in the elaboration of the SOPs as well as in the other activities of the project.

The Strength to Carry On: Resilience and Vulnerability to Trafficking among People Travelling along Migration Routes to Europe analyses the incidence of human trafficking among people travelling along migration routes to Europe; factors of resilience to trafficking and other abuses; and factors of vulnerability to trafficking and other abuses. The study covers the Eastern Mediterranean, Balkan and Central Mediterranean migration routes.The research findings indicate the significance of the context of the migration routes for people’s experiences: the geography of the routes; and the policies and practices applied during different periods in different places. Due to the lack of legal channels for migrating and seeking asylum, and the lack of possibilities to transit regularly along the routes, almost everyone who travels the routes uses migrant smuggling services, at least at some point. Migration policies and responses to the situation on the migration routes have focused largely on combating irregular movement and are characterised by border restrictions and fortification, which significantly increases the vulnerabilities of people using the routes. 69 potential trafficking cases were identified in the course of the research, and 14 cases of deprivation of liberty for extortion. A minority of these cases were officially identified by the authorities. People on the move are trafficked for sexual exploitation, labour exploitation and forced migrant smuggling. The study also shows that deprivation of liberty for extortion involves the abuse of a person’s rights in order to obtain financial or material benefits. The main modus operandi of traffickers in the context of the migration routes, regardless of whether or not they also provide migrant smuggling services, is abusing people’s position of vulnerability. This vulnerability arises from their need to use, and to pay for, migrant smuggling, due to the lack of alternatives for regular travel.

This Note provides guidance for the assistance, protection and humanitarian diplomacy activities of Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies in the Asia Pacific region in the context of labour migration and trafficking. The Note builds upon existing International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement policies, guidance and commitments relevant to migration and displacement. The Note also contains a collection of case studies of existing initiatives by Asia Pacific National Societies, demonstrating the strength and diversity of National Societies’ activities related to labour migration and trafficking. The Note is designed to support the existing initiatives of Asia Pacific National Societies, as well as provide guidance for those National Societies considering new initiatives in the context of labour migration and trafficking. The Note will be useful to National Societies across all departments - from leadership to migration, disaster management, health, shelter, Restoring Family Links (RFL), welfare and beyond.The note will also be useful for representatives from governments, regional institutions, academia, civil society organisations and United Nations (UN) agencies to deepen their understanding of the core mandate and strengths of Asia Pacific Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies in the context of labour migration and trafficking.

A practical guideline for frontline workers