The European Union and the Council of Europe joint action on “Strengthening the Human Rights Protection of Migrants and Victims of Human Trafficking in Turkey” organised a study visit to Madrid, Spain on 28-30 November 2022 for a delegation of the Turkish Presidency of Migration Management.
The delegation of 20 participants, comprising of high-level representatives and migration specialists from the Presidency of Migration Management and the Council of Europe representatives, had exchanges and made observations on alternatives to immigration detention practices and return procedures in Spain.
Within the framework of the study visit, meetings were held with General Directorate of Migration, Alien Prosecutor’s Office, National Border Post Coordination Centre, General Commissariat for Aliens and Borders, Central Unit for Expulsions and Repatriations, the Ombudsman’s Office, and NGOs such as the Spanish Red Cross.
The meetings with authorities and NGOs yielded benefit in acquiring information about immigration policies in Spain, the general migrant profile in the country, deportation and return procedures, ATD practices and information systems, and good practices on migration management. It also provided an opportunity for exchange on common challenges encountered in the field in both Spain and Türkiye, and possible solutions to these challenges.
The study visit was deemed highly fruitful by the beneficiary institution as it provided an opportunity to become more familiar with alternatives to immigration detention practices in the European context, and is expected to shed further light on the subject, for the application of less coercive measures than detention in the context of irregular migration management in Türkiye.
This activity was organised within the framework of the Action “Strengthening the human rights protection of migrants and victims of human trafficking in Turkey”, which is a part of the European Union/Council of Europe collaboration titled “Horizontal Facility-II for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.
