Meeting of 28 April 2025
Co-ordination Group on Migration
Council of Europe, Agora building
Relevant Action by UNHCR
Andreas Wissner, UNHCR Representative to the European Institutions in Strasbourg
Dear Nikos and members of the Council of Europe Division on Migration and Refugees, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of UNHCR, I would like to thank you for having invited us to contribute to today’s discussion of the draft Council of Europe Action Plan on Migration and Refugees (2026 to 2029).
UNHCR through its Representation to the European Institutions in Strasbourg, its country offices covering all the 46 member states and with the support of HQ, has been working for three decades with the different entities of the Council of Europe with the aim to guarantee the rights of asylum-seekers, refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons in the CoE member states, as well as to seek sustainable solutions for the integration of refugees.
The recently adopted resolution by the UN General Assembly on cooperation between the UN and the CoE recognizes the important synergetic work and encourages continuing cooperation with notably UNHCR.
The new CoE Action Plan on Migration and Refugees will be very welcomed by UNHCR and it will accelerate the implementation of the CoE’s pledges to the Global Compact on Refugees.
The proposed thematic pillars and actions of the new Council of Europe Action Plan which will cover the next four years are very timely and relevant.
UNHCR will continue working in close partnership with the CoE’s Division on Migration and Refugees and all other CoE entities working on these matters and we are also looking forward exploring new synergies.
I would now like to provide a short overview of key advocacy priorities and action taken - some of which is already jointly underway with relevant CoE entities. I have structured this overview by the pillars of the new draft Action Plan and should stress that this summary is not exhaustive and that UNHCR stands ready to join or support new initiatives.
I. Let me start with the first Pillar regarding the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of border control and other procedures:
UNHCR country offices and HQ are following closely the administrative, legislative and judicial developments. UNHCR Colleagues are supporting and providing expertise to respective authorities and partners in the context of vulnerability screening and identification, including medical, mental health, psychosocial, gender-based violence and child-protection expertise.
UNHCR keeps seeking systematic access for UNHCR and civil society partners to reception centres, transit zones, and detention facilities to monitor vulnerability identification and treatment.
UNHCR advocates for Safeguards on detention and alternatives to detention (ATDs) and continues monitoring movement restrictions. In line with relevant findings by the ECtHR and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNHCR keeps calling on states that detention is never in a child’s best interest and hence children should not be detained for immigration- related purposes. Alternatives should be prioritized in line with the joint UNHCR & IOM and UNICEF advocacy brief.
UNHCR urges that movement restrictions under border procedures do not amount to de facto detention and advocates that urban locations near borders offer better reception conditions for applicants with specific needs.
UNHCR has and will keep intervening as a third party in relevant cases before the European Court of Human Rights and submit communications to the Committee of Ministers with recommendations regarding their execution.
Recent examples are UNHCR’s interventions in the three pending Grand Chamber cases concerning push-backs at the Belarusian border in the context of so-called “instrumentalization”.
At the inter-governmental level, UNHCR has started contributing to the CoE’s new Drafting Group on Safe Third Countries, under the umbrella of the CDDH.
Also, UNHCR continues organizing jointly with the CoE legal capacity building events for authorities, judges and lawyers in selected CoE member states aimed at ensuring border procedures are human rights and refugee law compliant. In last year’s seminar held jointly with the Registry of the ECtHR at the ECtHR, judges from as many as 30 member states participated.
II. I will now turn to the second pillar on effective access and protection of human rights
In Europe, UNHCR calls on member states to provide quality, accessible and free legal assistance from the first instance, going beyond the new EU APR’s minimum baseline (legal counselling alone), especially for vulnerable applicants. UNHCR argues that case-specific, tailored legal advice is needed - particularly for sensitive cases (e.g., survivors of trafficking, torture, or those with diverse SOGIESC). Also, unhindered access for NGOs and UNHCR-funded partners to provide legal counselling and assistance in border and transit zones is key.
UNHCR Strasbourg has recently published a toolkit on how to seek interim measures before the European Court of Human Rights. This guide, which is already online on UNHCR’s Refworld platform, should be formally launched later this year here in Strasbourg in cooperation with the CoE.
Since the CoE’s HELP programme started working on courses addressing matters of persons UNHCR works with and for, UNHCR Strasbourg has been co-developing courses, notably on asylum and Human Rights, as well on ATDs and has contributed to a number of other courses for example on migrant and refugee children, on IDPs and on the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive. UNHCR took also part in launching events in numerous member states.
This joint work will go on over the coming years in the context of the development of new courses, such as one on mental health, or when there is a need to update existing courses, e.g. in view of EU law developments, or to expand outreach.
Given the good reception of jointly developed courses, we started some years ago commissioning translations into Arabic and disseminating them through UNHCR’s north African offices – in particular in Morocco and Tunisia. This work is underway with the help of the CoE office in Tunisia and funded by the European Union South Programme V "Protecting human rights, the rule of law, and democracy through shared norms in the Southern Mediterranean".
With a view to ensure human rights of persons under UNHCR’s mandate are protected, UNHCR also provides briefings in the context of country visits by the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as in support of the work of the CoE’s monitoring bodies, namely GREVIO, GRETA, ECRI and CPT.
Regarding joint work aimed at fighting smuggling while preserving human rights, UNHCR participates as an observer in the discussions of the CoE’s Steering Committee on Crime Problems.
III. Pillars 3 and 4 of the draft AP on the promotion of social rights and ensuring social integration, are also of key importance for persons UNHCR works with and for.
One of the CoE projects which UNHCR has supported since its beginning is the CoE’s European Qualification Passport for Refugees.
UNHCR welcomes that the draft Action Plan forsees to enhance job matching programmes.
UNHCR’s Refugee Employment Platform Initiative continues to expand and connect more businesses with refugee talent. Nine national platforms now advertise a wide pool of vacancies and link refugees and businesses with diverse support services and clear guidance throughout the job search, hiring and workplace integration process. Services and support they offer both on and offline via dedicated teams range from direct job matching, to support for companies interested in engaging staff as mentors, among many others. A Regional online Information Hub for the Refugee Employment Platform which covers more than 35 European countries was launched in March. It contains key information on the legal framework and administrative procedures and offers support for businesses to navigate the hiring, and workplace integration process. Successful practices could potentially be replicated and forms of government support may be available.
Several joint initiatives are already underway regarding development and application of policies and practices in integration with local and regional authorities. These projects will also continue over the next year when the new Action plan will start.
Last month, the ‘Academy on the integration of migrants and refugees in the Baltic countries 2025-2026’ was launched for city administrations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, following a pilot in Poland. It has been developed by UNHCR, the Council of Europe Intercultural Cities (CoE ICC) Programme, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Participants in the Academy will develop their skills in topics such as strengthening of intercultural competencies and communication, building effective partnerships for integration, addressing misinformation and meeting the needs of specific categories of refugees.
UNHCR plans to publish in May a study on Enhancing Municipalities’ Access to Funding for Refugee Inclusion & Integration. which will draw from discussions of a workshop UNHCR had organized last year with CEB participation for municipal leaders from 13 countries.
UNHCR also conducts exchanges among stakeholders through a series of webinars and peer-learning sessions in which CoE actors are contributing their expertise.
Moreover, UNHCR participates as an observer in the important work of the CoE’s ADI-INT which is developing guidance on multilevel governance intercultural inclusion.
Last but not least in respect of integration, we will also continue working in partnership with the CoE’s Department of the European Social Charter in the context of joint legal capacity events, of country monitoring or when submitting UNHCR observations regarding collective complaints.
IV. UNHCR also welcomes that the New Action Plan will have a special focus on vulnerable persons.
Since its inception, UNHCR keeps contributing significantly to the discussions by the CoE-led Consultation Group on Children of Ukraine (CGU) aimed to safeguard the rights and respond to the needs of children from Ukraine, including on family reunification, voluntary return decisions, access to protection and education and protection from abuse and trafficking.
Regarding children overall, UNHCR continues providing its expertise to the work of the CDENF; a group of experts that is currently working on the revision of the CoE Guidelines on Child-friendly Justice. The experts have identified some transversal issues that are important to address, as well as some gaps, namely, regarding children in a migration/asylum situation, most of them unaccompanied.
Another example for ongoing cooperation on the protection of vulnerable persons is that UNHCR will be coorganizing with the Division on Migration and Refugees, and the authorities of Bulgaria an online round table this yearon Strengthening Guardianship for Unaccompanied Children in Bulgaria. Joint round tables on issues of common concern will also be held under the New Action Plan. In Europe, UNHCR has been engaging jointly with IOM, EUAA and FRA in the European Guardianship Network and keeps advocating that states should base national guardianship systems on recognized standards rooted in the provisions of the UN CRC.
In order to eradicate statelessness, UNHCR continues to encourage States and other stakeholders to join the Global Alliance to End Statelessness. We very much welcome the Council of Europe’s joining of this new Alliance as a solution-seeker, including its role in co-hosting the upcoming Inter-Regional Network Lab on “Regional Action, Global Impact,” .
Also, UNHCR keeps contributing to the work of the CoE’s CDCJ-Mig which is working on updating the Committee of Ministers recommendation on the nationality of children, as well as on a compilation of good practices.
Conclusion:
However, despite all engagement and its beneficial impact, at this time , most humanitarian actors are affected by severe budget cuts - which includes UNHCR globally.
Refugees, IDPs and stateless persons are enduring the most severe consequences of these cuts.
Therefore, it will remain vital that all CoE entities and representatives of member states raise strong voices in their defence.
We thank the CoE for remaining a strong partner of UNHCR and look forward continuing working together towards the adoption and implementation of the new Action Plan.
UNHCR Representation to the European Institutions in Strasbourg, April 2025