Secretariat - Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities

OSCE participating States recognized migration as a comprehensive security issue already since the Helsinki Final Act (1975). They reinforced their interest in this matter in several subsequent OSCE documents and commitments, focusing on the rights of migrant workers. Since 2005, migration has been introduced into the activities of the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), where it is being addressed from the wider economic and environmental perspective.

Due to recent migration and demographic trends in the OSCE area, a number of OSCE participating States have become countries of destination, transit or origin for migration, or a combination of all three, with economic, social, cultural and security implications requiring co-operation at many levels to effectively address migration management.

The 2005 Slovenian OSCE Chairmanship placed migration firmly on the agenda of the OSCE. Participating States made full use of the three-dimensional nature of the Organization to address the complex topics related to migration in a comprehensive manner, by discussing migration in the contexts of border security and management, sustainable development, tolerance and non-discrimination, and human rights. The discussions resulted in a Ministerial Decision on Migration (2005) and in a Ministerial Statement (2006). The OCEEA developed migration-related activities based on the recommendations of the 13th OSCE Economic Forum (2005).

Handbook on Labour Migration
The Handbook on Establishing Effective Labour Migration Policies in Countries of Origin and Destination is the result of inter-organizational co-operation, being a joint production of the OSCE, the International Organization on Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). It provides policy-makers and experts in participating States with concrete policy examples and models on effective labour migration management, mainly taken from the OSCE region. It is available in English, Russian and Arabic on the OSCE website (links to the right).

After introducing the Handbook to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) during a workshop in December 2006, the dialogue has been extended to the Mediterranean region through the production of an Arabic version of the Handbook and the organization of a launch event in Rabat on 12-13 December 2007.