On 7 and 8 September 2017, at a meeting in the Portuguese Parliament, a new network on diaspora policy was launched by parliamentarians from Council of Europe member states and southern Mediterranean partner countries. The new network would work with national authorities, NGOs and associations to promote the empowerment of parliamentarians to build inclusive societies with diaspora communities, to encourage political cooperation between countries of origin and host countries and to improve the democratic participation of diasporas. Andrea Rigoni (MP, Italy), author of several PACE reports on the subject, was appointed coordinator of the network for its first year of operation.

The participants to the meeting were welcomed by the Speaker of the Portuguese Parliament, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues. The Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), William Lacy Swing, gave the keynote address. Other speakers included René Rouquet, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly, SRSG Tomáš Boček, and Kateryna Yushchenko, former First Lady of Ukraine and Chair of the Board of the Ukraine 3000 Foundation.

On 20 September 2017 in Paris, the Migration Committee will adopt a report on child-friendly age assessment for unaccompanied migrant children; it will also hold an exchange of views on child detention, family reunification and the human rights of migrants, with the participation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Human Rights Watch, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).