Azerbaijan

Making migration and mobility positive forces for development
1. Bring together representatives of diaspora communities and governments of countries of origin and destination for round-table debates on sharing best practices and on recognising the role and needs of diaspora communities in development and investment in countries of origin as well as in integration in the host societies.

The Almaty Process aims to address the multiple challenges resulting from complex migration dynamics and mixed migratory movements in Central Asia and the wider region, in a cooperative and coordinated manner.

The Almaty Process promotes sustained dialogue and exchange of information on migration issues and on refugee protection challenges such as, but not limited to:

• Irregular migration
• Human Trafficking
• Migrant Vulnerabilities
• Migrant Integration
• Human Mobility
• Human Rights of Migrants.

The Azerbaijani government continues to assume primary responsibility for the care and protection of the country's 597,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), who fled their homes in the early 1990s as a result of the conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. It has devoted significant resources to IDPs’ problems over the past two decades. It has also raised awareness on displacement, collected data, trained officials on IDPs’ rights and adopted laws, policies and programmes for their protection.

This Extended Migration Profile (2011) has been prepared in the framework of the “Building Migration Partnerships” initiative funded by the European Union’s Thematic Programme, which was implemented between January 2009 and June 2011. The overall objective of this initiative was to contribute to the implementation of the Joint Declaration agreed at the Prague Ministerial Conference "Building Migration Partnerships" (April 2009). This Extended Migration Profile has been elaborated on the basis of a template prepared by the European Commission.

“Migration in the Republic of Azerbaijan: A Country Profile 2008” is part of a series of migration profiles produced by IOM Budapest within the “Black Sea Consultative Process on Migration Management” project, funded from IOM’s 1035 Facility. It reveals that unstable socioeconomic conditions as well as various conflicts in the region have acted as emigration push factors in the postindependence period (1991 to 1996). However, the economic revival of the country has created favorable conditions for the reverse of migration flows, mainly driven by a vibrant energy sector.

The Council has been established as an effective mechanism of cooperation. In practice, Russia and partners from CIS have signed bilateral and multilateral agreements and schemes for organized recruitment of foreign labour force which guarantee migrants with rights, competitive salaries, security and other crucial issues.