Overview of the current migration issues and IOM involvement
Slovakia remains primarily a country of transit for migrants from Eastern Europe and Asia. Although the number of foreign nationals legally residing in Slovakia has been growing in recent years, the proportion of migrants within the population is the lowest in the EU (0.6%). At the same time, the trend of growing labour migration to Slovakia was reversed in 2008 and 2009 due to the global economic crisis which hit Slovakia particularly hard.

Despite these trends, the Slovak Government has been paying growing attention to migration and integration policies in recent years, which was reflected by the 2009 adoption of the Concept of the Integration of Foreigners and by the planned revision of the overall Concept of Migration Policy planned to take place in 2010. At the same time, in 2009 a Coordinating Committee for Migration and Integration was created under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior. The Committee is responsible for the implementation and monitoring of tasks issuing from the above-mentioned government concepts and for the co-ordination of migration policies vis a vis the European Union and other international organizations. The Committee is composed of representatives of relevant ministries and public institutions playing specific roles in the field of migration management and may invite ad hoc members including international and non-governmental organizations. IOM continues to assist the Government in fulfilling its migration management tasks, especially in the fields of migrant integration and assisted voluntary returns.

Fight against human trafficking remains a challenge as Slovakia continues to be a country of origin of trafficked persons. IOM is a partner of the Ministry of Interior in the implementation of assistance to trafficked persons and capacity building of relevant professionals involved in the prevention of human trafficking and identification/assistance to trafficked persons. IOM also strongly perceives the need for prevention activities especially those targeted at disadvantaged groups and the need to increase efforts towards the identification of victims trafficked to Slovakia.

In 2009 resettlement activities were started by the Slovak Government, with UNHCR and IOM as the main implementing partners. Providing that the government commitment towards resettlement of refugees continues, IOM is prepared to provide services in this area based on its experience from other countries.

Newly since 2009, IOM has also been the national coordinator of the European Migration Network set up by the European Commission with the aim to meet the information needs of the European Community institutions and of Member States’ authorities by providing up-to-date, objective, reliable and comparable information on migration and asylum.

Depending on the availability of project funding, IOM intends to continue its above-mentioned activities drawing on the expertise and experience gained in recent years. IOM sees its current role in Slovakia both in the area of practical service provision to migrants (migrants integrating in Slovakia, victims of human trafficking, returning migrants) as well as in capacity building, research and policy guidance. In future, IOM Bratislava sees its role in promoting the positive links between migration and development, which has so far not been paid appropriate attention in Slovakia. In case of need, IOM Bratislava is also ready to assist in emergency and post-crisis situations through its Missions and Offices in the affected countries. (As was recently the case of Georgia where IOM provided emergency aid to persons who were internally displaced as a result of the conflict in Russia in August 2008.)

Areas of activity
In recent years IOM Slovakia has primarily been active in assisted voluntary returns, migrant integration and counter trafficking. Within these areas, IOM has been implementing the following types of activities:

Assisted Voluntary Returns

• Provision of return assistance (i.e. ) to returnees including irregular migrants and unsuccessful asylum seekers (since 1998);
• Provision of reintegration assistance to returning migrants based on individual business plans (since 2008);
• Capacity building and networking of various groups of professionals involved in the process of assisted voluntary returns incl. fostering of co-operation with the consular offices of main countries of origin;
• Information dissemination and campaigns aimed at professionals working with the potential or actual returnees as well as at potential returnees themselves;
• Exchange of experience with other EU countries implementing AVR.

Migrant Integration

• Provision of practical integration assistance to migrants including legal counselling and labour/social counselling (since 2006 through the IOM Migration Information Centre);
• Capacity building of professionals working in the field of migration/integration at the national and regional levels,
• Exchange of experience and sharing of best practice with other EU countries;
• Research into various aspects of migrant integration in Slovakia;
• Policy guidance – feeding of practical experience into the newly created integration policies in Slovakia (specifically the Concept of the Integration of Foreigner in the Slovak Republic adopted in May 2009).

Counter Trafficking

• Return and reintegration assistance to victims of trafficking (since 2006);
• Prevention of human trafficking aimed at specific vulnerable groups, such as secondary school students, disadvantaged Roma populations, youth in foster care facilities (since 2003);
• National Anti-Trafficking Hotline (since 2008);
• Capacity building of relevant professionals in the prevention of trafficking in human beings and in identification/referral/assistance of trafficked persons (as a partner of the Ministry of Interior since 2008);
• Policy guidance to the Slovak Government regarding the design of the national counter trafficking strategy and the National Referral Mechanism.

Other types of activities implemented over the last couple of years included:

• European Migration Network activities;
• Research and capacity building in the field of labour migration and migration health;
• Projects aimed at stabilising vulnerable communities in Eastern Slovakia (in cooperation with NGO partners);
• Humanitarian and Social Programmes aimed at (in cooperation with selected NGO partners).