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In the post-Soviet period in Azerbaijan?especially in the 90?s due to war with Armenia, and the political chaos and economic collapse after the breakup of the USSR? serious problems surrounding the statistical records of migration processes arose on the part of the State Statistical Committee (Goskomstat), the main department in this sphere in the republic. Subsequently, the situation involving records of population movement began to improve. However, problems remained. And they were largely connected to the fact that during this period in Azerbaijan, there were many other government departments besides Goskomstat working on issues related to population migration statistics: the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, the State Committee on Refugee Affairs and Internally Displaced Persons, the State Committee on the Affairs of Azerbaijanis Living Abroad, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Ministry of National Security (MNS), the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. Each of the above ministries and committees had a special department that poorly coordinated with the others on this issue. Only in recent years has the situation started to change a little for the better, especially after the creation of the State Migration Service (SMS) in 2007, which has a mandated function to merge state control over migration processes, including statistical records. But this process is in its early stages and for now more than 80% of the statistical data on population migration is still administered by Goskomstat.

The aim of this project was to provide EU and national policymakers, agencies and services with a valuable insight into separated asylum-seeking children's views and perspectives. This will assist them in improving the quality of asylum conditions, as well as the legal procedures and relevant support structures in the states that host the children.

Das Forschungsprojekt "Von der Flüchtlingshilfe zur Fluchthilfe" geht aus von der Problematik des Asylparadoxes und dem Umgang zivilgesellschaftlicher Akteure mit seinen Konsequenzen: Zwar gelten in Deutschland das Grundrecht auf Asyl und die völkerrechtlichen Prinzipien des Flüchtlingsschutzes und viele Staaten gewährleisten Flüchtlingsrechte. Um diese zu erlangen, müssen die meisten Schutzsuchenden allerdings mangels legaler Einreisemöglichkeiten illegal Grenzen überqueren und sich in riskante Situationen begeben. Insbesondere durch die sich in den Jahren 2015 und 2016 zuspitzende Lage entwickeln sich in Deutschland vermehrt gesellschaftliche Auseinandersetzungen um den Zugang zu Flüchtlingsschutz. Das Forschungsprojekt analysiert diese Auseinandersetzungen mit Fokus auf das Engagement zivilgesellschaftlicher Initiativen für die sichere Einreise von Flüchtenden. Daher geht das Projekt der Forschungsfrage nach, welche Handlungsansätze und Strategien zivilgesellschaftliche Initiativen im Kontext von Migrations- und Fluchtregimen entwickeln, um sich angesichts beschränkter Einreisewege und humanitärer Notlagen für einen Zugang zum Schutz für Geflüchtete einzusetzen und Fluchthilfe zu leisten.

Luxembourg has a long tradition in “resettling” refugees from various parts of the world, but a more structured policy has only recently been implemented. National legislation does not include any provisions relating to resettlement policy and there are no specific national programmes. The resettlements have always been implemented on an ad-hoc basis or within broader programmes set up by the European Commission and/or UNHCR. Since 2014, Luxembourg additionally applies a quota of refugees to be annually resettled (15-20 persons). The implementation and organisation of the resettlement process may vary case by case and there is no standardised procedure applicable except for regular resettlements for which the framework is to a large extent outlined in the UNHCR’s Resettlement Handbook. The selection and identification of resettled persons is coordinated by the Directorate of Immigration in close collaboration with UNHCR, who performs in principle an eligibility assessment for the refugee status, which the Luxembourgish authorities shall take over once the person arrives in Luxembourg. For each resettlement mission Luxembourg sets a general profile as well as the number of persons they intend to resettle. These criteria do basically not differ from UNHCR’s Global Resettlement Submission Criteria and thus include women, children, elderly refugees as well as refugees with disabilities and diseases, except for those suffering from pathologies for which there is no adequate treatment available in Luxembourg. Apart from the vulnerability criteria, Luxembourgish authorities also take the “integration potential” into consideration when selecting candidates eligible for resettlements. This might explain the general preference of resettling entire families rather than single persons. Resettlement implemented within the EU Turkey 1:1 scheme, based on the agreement between the EU and Turkey of 18 March 2016, is considered separately by national authorities. For UNHCR, who is not a party to this agreement, engagement in the resettlement of Syrian refugees from Turkey is considered part of its regular resettlement activities. Procedurally, UNHCR continues to receive resettlement referrals from Turkey’s Directorate General for Migration Management (DGMM) and further continues to undertake phone and face-to-face interviews with eligible candidates. However, as opposed to regular resettlement, the assessment undertaken by UNHCR is streamlined. The Luxembourgish Reception and Integration Agency (OLAI) coordinates the reception and integration phase of the resettled refugees. Although policy and law are the same for both, resettled refugees and other beneficiaries of international protection, in practice the support provided may differ in an initial phase. Thus, resettled refugees are accommodated upon arrival within a common reception centre where they shall be provided with a more intense support, especially during the first weeks after their arrival in Luxembourg. Since April 2016, a newly created service of the Luxembourgish Red Cross (Lisko) has been mandated, under the overall coordination of the Ministry of Family, Integration and the Greater Region, to take charge of the social support and integration of benefeciciaries of international protection, including resettled persons. Other national NGOs and associations also provide counselling and assistance. The present report identifies several challenges faced by both, the resettled persons as well as the competent authorities. These challenges prove particular significant in the post-arrival and integration phase. While some of these challenges are common to beneficiaries of international protection in general, some others may be more specifically relevant for resettled refugees, namely the absence of a transition period, coordination with local stakeholders, as well as timely provision of information to selected candidates for resettlement.

The past EU funding programs for the afforestation of agricultural marginal areas promoted many walnut quality hardwood planted forests in southern Europe, which are mostly small to medium-sized and dispersed in the territory. Although southern European countries have intensively invested in research on walnut silviculture and genetics, the owners of small planted forests lack the know-how needed to properly manage their plantations, being a majority of them poorly managed or abandoned. Moreover, the average age of the walnut plantations and their need for thinnings imply that large quantities of small-diameter trees will be produced in the years to come. However, small-dimensioned European walnut logs are not demanded by wood industry because of the higher transformation costs and because of the competition of the American walnut. WOODNat, focused on the whole walnut hardwood-chain, aims at increasing the use of quality walnut hardwood produced under sustainable management practices in planted forests of southern Europe, which implies adding value to the whole chain of the walnut hardwood market, involving the different stakeholders of the market. To help this approach, WOODNat will benefit from biotechnology, robotics, and the development of a mobile app. Thanks to WOODNat, walnut plant nurseries will improve characteristics of walnut plants in order to reach a higher standard in the market while increasing nursery productivity, and will keep after-sale contact with plantation managers to get feedback of the success of the walnut plants. A whole package of environmentally sustainable management practices, including sustainable innovative approaches to degrade by-products, will be implemented in walnut planted forests, not only in new plantations but also in many now abandoned or poorly-managed exploitations. Such package of good practices will increase not only productivity, but also multifunctionality of walnut plantations