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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
22 October-November 2024
Ireland chmpions ideologicl
ni-migrn gency
Ireland pys €100,000 nd joins ICPMD migrion orgnision
ccused of fciliing humn righs buses
By Sndor Adm Gorni,
Frnces Mills, Nomi Mdlene
O, Mo Ringvll, Dniel
Thlhmer, Dniel Ågren
projects worth over €700 million on behalf of
its member states and the EU Commission.
The implicit goal: to stop irregular migrants
from reaching Europe.
During his seven-year escape from
Afghanistan to Austria, in which his life
frequently hung by a thread, Ibrahim Rasool
did not see or hear any reference to the
International Centre for Policy and Migration.
However, the ICMPD had a presence along
nearly every step of his route.
In Afghanistan, Rasool was a FIFA referee
for futsal (indoor football). He campaigned for
women footballers and against corruption in
the Afghan Football Association, a story
which made international headlines. His
NEWS
A
t the end of July, to little reaction
from the media, Minister for
Justice Helen McEntee announced
that Ireland had become an
official member of the
International Centre for Migration Policy
Development (ICMPD). The few who covered
the news presented the organisation as a
thinktank that advises on migration policy. In
reality, the ICMPD has both a political
influence and many projects on the ground.
The organisation delivers surveillance
radar, patrol boats, fingerprint machines,
drones and training to border agencies
spanning the major migration routes to
Europe. In 2023, the organisation carried out
ICMPD hedqurers in Vienn. Phoo: Dniel Thlhmer
VillageOctNov24.indb 22 03/10/2024 14:27
October-November 2024 23
efforts did not go unnoticed by those he
criticised. After surviving an attack on his life
in 2017, he had no choice but to leave, and his
transcontinental journey began.
During his escape, Rasool continued to
campaign for women footballers and helped
uncover sexual assaults that had taken place.
If he returns to Afghanistan, Rasool says
during an interview via Zoom, he faces
persecution from the Taliban and beyond.
The ICMPD is present in Rasool’s hometown
of Kabul. Here, with EU funding, in 2018 it set
up the Migrant Resource Centre, which
provides information for Afghans considering
migrating to Europe. It has a clear agenda. In
the words of ICMPD’s director, the Centre
“helps people to make realistic assessments
of the often overrated opportunities and
prospects in the countries of destination,
particularly in Europe”.
The Kabul Centre’s Telegram advisory
channel for Afghans, viewed by Village,
consists largely of stories of would-be
migrants who have died, been imprisoned or
undergone forced return. For example, on 22
April, the channel posted: “A cemetery for
migrants was opened on the Greek island of
Lesbos… the burial place of a large number of
immigrants who died on the way”.
Asked about the purpose of these posts, an
employee of the Migrant Resource Centre told
us: “potential migrants must know the danger
and consequences of irregular [illegal]
migration”.
Despite the ICMPD’s attempts to discourage
refugees from making the journey, Rasool’s
life was at risk and he needed to get out. He
escaped by plane to neighbouring Iran and
continued on foot towards Turkey.
In Turkey, we can see an example of the
ICMPD’s political influence. The ICMPD has
become an integral part of the country’s
approach to integrated border controls. This
is according to Gamze Ovacik, a postdoctoral
researcher at McGill University Faculty of Law
who worked as a legal consultant for ICMPD
Turkey in 2016-17. Ovacik says that the ICMPD
helped Turkey’s interior ministry to establish
a new government institution: the Directorate
General (now Presidency) of Migration
Management.
This understanding is echoed by a senior
researcher studying migration issues in
Turkey and in the Middle East, who wished to
remain anonymous. The researcher contrasts
the ICMPD’s approach to human rights with
other international migration organisations:
“UNCHR was sidelined in Turkey partially due
to its focus on human rights standards and
protection. ICMPD was chosen in Turkey for
strategic partnership because it does not
directly intervene in protection issues and
human rights”.
From Turkey, Rasool made a short journey
across the Mediterranean by boat. By
examining hundreds of EU tenders – and
building on the work of German NGO
FragDenStaat – we found that the
Mediterranean was a hotspot of ICMPD
activity.
The European Commission and member
states have contracted the ICMPD to deliver
surveillance radar, patrol vessels, unmanned
underwater vehicles, drones, and training to
North African coast guards and border
agencies, many of which have been accused
of human rights violations against migrants.
For example, the Tunisian Coast Guard has
been accused of stealing the engines of
migrant boats and leaving the victims
stranded at sea. Even after these accusations,
the ICMPD has continued to put out tenders
for boats to be delivered to this coast guard.
There are numerous other allegations
linking the ICMPD to controversial actions in
the region. One ICMPD project allegedly
involved providing the Moroccan authorities
with spyware to extract data from mobile
phones in order to prevent irregular migration.
Rasool made it across the Mediterranean
and arrived in Greece, where he gained some
relief coaching refugee children in football.
However, this could not last forever and he
continued his journey north into Bosnia
Herzegovina. In 2021, he arrived at the
notorious Lipa refugee camp.
This is perhaps the place in which the
ICMPD’s impact can be most easily seen on
the ground. In 2023, the Austrian refugee
organisation SOS Balkanroute revealed
details of a separate deportation centre in
Lipa, financed by the EU Commission and built
by the ICMPD. When SOS Balkanroute referred
to the centre as “Austria’s Guantanamo”, the
ICMPD sued for defamation.
“They tried to silence us with the most
brutal force”, the NGO’s founder Petar
Rosandić mentioned to us during a personal
interview in Vienna. The case was later
dismissed by a Vienna court – a tacit
admission that the accusation was accurate.
“The centre looks like a prison in a jungle next
to a minefield”, Rosandić says.
Since this dispute, the deportation centre
has stood empty. ”In addition to the
questionable humanitarian situation, half a
million of taxpayers’ money has gone up in
smoke”, Rosandić says.”The ICMPD is the
organisation that does things for the EU that
others don’t want to do. Such as building a
prison in a refugee camp where minors and
families are also accommodated”.
After Lipa, Rasool made his way to Austria,
now desperate to find a place to rebuild his
life. The ICMPD is headquartered in Vienna.
Michael Spindelegger, its executive director
since 2016, was previously the country’s
foreign minister and vice-chancellor for the
conservative People’s Party. He has a firm
position on migration. At the Vienna Migration
Conference 2020, for example, he said: ‘We
have to become better at imposing strict and
functioning migration control”.
Tineke Strik, MEP for the Dutch GroenLinks
party, points to Spindelegger’s leadership to
question the ICMPD’s political neutrality:
“His links with the Austrian government
are immense. Besides, as a former minister
The ICMPD has a significant political
presence at the EU level carrying out
€700m of projects on behalf of member
states and the Commission though some
still consider it to be merely a thinktank
The ICMPD is the
organisation that does
things for the EU that
others don’t want to,
like building a prison in
a refugee camp where
minors and families are
also accommodated
Ibrhim Rsool fer being cked by
his persecuors.
Phoo: Ibrhim Rsool
VillageOctNov24.indb 23 03/10/2024 14:27
24 October-November 2024
of foreign affairs, he used to be deeply
involved in the migration agenda of the
country, which traditionally has been very
conservative and restrictive; also during his
tenure as a minister. That’s very clear. So to
say that they are only neutral and technical,
I think that’s quite easy to challenge”.
Indeed, under Spindelegger’s leadership,
the ICMPD’s budget increased nearly
fourfold, according to Stephanie Krisper,
Austrian MP for the liberal NEOS party and a
staunch critic of the organisation. Since
Spindelegger’s appointment, the Austrian
government has even been paying the rent
on the ICMPD’s headquarters.
In March 2023, the ICMPD and its projects
were the subject of a parliamentary enquiry
in Austria. “The ICMPD strives to influence
the political discourse on migration. Their
projects are dedicated to outsourcing border
protection and migration management tasks
to actors from third countries”, says Krisper,
who initiated the parliamentary inquiry. “The
consequence of this is that accountability
and public control are lost – possibly at the
expense of respect for human rights”.
ICMPD initiatives that have attracted
criticism include its ongoing project to
introduce a digital “refugee card” in
Germany, which it developed in collaboration
with Jan Marsalek. Then CFO of the fraudulent
financial services company Wirecard,
Marsalek is still a fugitive. According to
leaked emails obtained by German public
broadcaster, ICMPD continued to work with
Marsalek after the Financial Times revealed,
in November 2019, the widespread fraud at
Wirecard conducted under Marsalek’s
leadership.
In an exclusive interview with General
Director Michael Spindelegger, he told us:
“96% of the ICMPD is financed by project
funds. The number of these projects has
increased in recent years, as has the
confidence in ICMPD to successfully
implement these projects”.
However, another project to encourage
Nigerian nationals to voluntarily leave Austria
after their asylum applications had been
rejected cost €270,000 of EU taxpayers’
money but resulted in only one individual
returning to their country of origin. “This
Nigeria project has obviously gone extremely
wrong, was extremely expensive and nothing
has worked. But Spindelegger’s former party
friends forgive him for this and it is not
scrutinised any further”, says Stefan
Grasgruber-Kerl from the development policy
association Südwind.
The ICMPD also has a significant political
presence at the EU level. It is trusted by the
EU Commission to act as a secretariat for key
meetings on migration between European
and African heads of state, including, in its
words: “one of the most significant political
summits on migration”, the Valetta Summit.
During this event, the EU’s former main
development aid mechanism for Africa was
launched — the EU Trust Fund for Africa. In
the following years, the ICMPD received
millions of euros from this fund to deliver
equipment and training to border and coast
guards.
It does all of this while some still consider
it to be merely a thinktank, and while being
subject to few of the same transparency
requirements as official NGOs.
“The ICMPD’s power is to pretend to be not
a political stakeholder in such processes, but
a kind of chaste facilitator of negotiations…
there’s no transparency and they are on the
steering boards of these projects and these
big processes. This is certainly a highly
strategic play with accountability,
responsibility”, says Professor Sabine Hess
of the Centre for Global Migration Studies,
who spent two years researching the ICMPD
from the inside.
Ireland will pay the ICMPD almost
€100,000 in 2024 in order to be a member.
This is apart from any ICMPD projects Ireland
may fund, and not including the money that
goes to the ICMPD via the EU. Membership
will mean Ireland has a seat at the table of the
organisation, but the ICMPD will also
implicate Ireland in their actions.
Asked whether its joining of the ICMPD was
in line with Ireland’s commitment to human
rights, a spokesperson for the Department of
Justice, told Village: “Membership of the
ICMPD is in line with Ireland’s commitment to
adhering to and promoting the core
international and European human rights
treaties…Training and support from the
broader international community is essential
to addressing areas where the application of
human rights standards in migration
management needs to be improved”.
A few months ago, Austria accepted
responsibility for Rasool’s asylum case. He
was interviewed for a third time and
convinced Austrian authorities of the dangers
he would face if he returned to Afghanistan.
In May, Rasool finally received asylum.
He still struggles with the physical and
psychological consequences of his journey,
taking part in a trauma recovery programme
for victims of violence. Despite all the
obstacles and violence that Ibrahim
experienced during his seven-year escape,
he has no regrets: “If I had stayed in
Afghanistan, I would undoubtedly be dead
today. When I left the country, I was given the
chance to live again. My greatest happiness
is that I can realise my dreams, which I
couldn’t realise in my home country”.
This article is part of “Crossborder
Journalism Campus“, an Erasmus+ project of
the University of Gothenburg, Leipzig
University and Centre de Formation des
Journalistes in Paris. Additional reporting:
Judith Dargère, Svenja Jäger, Johanna Klima,
Albert Lich, Cleménce Martin, Thomas
Ribaud and Friederike Streib
Since Spindelegger’s
appointment, the right-
wing Austrian government
has even been paying
the rent on the ICMPD’s
headquarters
Rsool he cmp in Bosni Herzegovin. Phoo: Tomislv Rosndić/SOS Blknroue
VillageOctNov24.indb 24 03/10/2024 14:27
