“Support to the professional development of the staff of the State Migration Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its subordinated agencies, and adjustment of legislation on Migration to the EU standards" Twinning project (January 2013-March 2015)

Twinning program which is the initiative of the European Commission was launched within the preparation of enlargement of the European Union (EU). Twinning has begun to be applied in Azerbaijan since 2006 as a long-term instrument related with EU legislation.  

The agreement on the Twinning project, beneficiary of which is State Migration Service, was signed on December 11, 2012 and its implementation started in January, 2013.

The general aim of the project is to support the Republic of Azerbaijan in preparing and implementing state policy which addresses to reduce and gradually eliminate illegal migration in compliance with international obligations protecting rights and fundamental freedoms of foreigners and stateless persons. The project was officially opened on April 5, 2013 and the first meeting of Steering Committee was held. 8 meetings of Steering Committee were held within the project and it was completed on March, 2015. 

The executive agencies of the project which is funded by the European Union was Repatriation and Departure Service (main executive) and Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of the Republic of Latvia and General Inspectorate for Immigration of Romania. Budget of the project was determined 1.050.000 (one million and fifty thousand) euro. Within the period of the project 53 events were realized on 4 components with the relevant bodies of The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Latvia and Romania which are the members of EU, operating in the migration field. This includes trainings, workshops, study visits, quarterly meetings of leadership.

The project had 4 following components:

• Harmonization of migration legislation with the EU legislation;
• Combatting illegal migration through systematic analysis;
• Capacity building through trainings;
• Establishment of public relations with more improved methods, capacity building on conducting awareness raising campaigns.

Following outcomes were achieved within the components of the Project:

• Draft of amendments and addendums to Migration Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan was prepared by analyzing migration legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
• Draft of Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on “Rules of placement and detention of foreigners and stateless persons in the detention centers of illegal migrants” was prepared;
• Draft of future model of interagency mechanism and action plan was prepared in order to fight against and combat illegal migration;
• Recruitment process in migration bodies, evaluation mechanism of activity of employees and existing job descriptions of employees were improved and training needs were identified.
• Informational flyers, brochures, leaflets, videos and slides were prepared for raising awareness of foreigners and stateless persons.