Migration and refugees: Collective efforts for joint regional response

Migration, Asylum and Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI) was established in 2004. It is a unique mechanism dealing with these three areas in the Region. Our motto is to act as advocate and be catalyst of the Western Balkans Six interests and responses to the challenges related to our field of competence.

Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo are Participants of the Initiative. It has Forum of Interior Ministers, committee where foreign ministries are represented with their high officials (mostly Deputy Foreign Ministers for multilateral and regional affairs) and Network of National Coordinators. MARRI has Regional Centre seated in Skopje, where Participants are represented by MARRI Officials – specialists for fields of competence selected by the most experienced public servants employed at interior or foreign ministries. Director of MARRI RC is selected at the competition announced every three years. His/her crucial role is to manage RC and act as Executive Secretary of the Forum and Committee Coordinator.

MARRI acts in order to enhance ties and cooperation among participants and identify their common interests in order to provide need based expertise and assistance to Participants‘competent authorities.

MARRI ambition is, also, to become regional think-tank providing timely and in depth analysis on trends and challenges related to: illegal and legal migrations in the Region, the best asylum practices in the context of human rights protection and refugees return and integration of the best solutions. Therefore, MARRI has continuous dialogue with crucial stakeholders in International Community, in the first line with the EU and its Member States. These activities are focused at provision of the best practices, technical and financial support.

In that context, one of our key partners is the UK Government represented by its Embassy in Skopje, that supports for several months project of establishing Regional data base of interpreters for rare languages in MARRI Participants. The budget of the project is £ 67, 540 and time frame is May 2015 to March 2016.

We could say that this project is already successful story when it comes to expected outputs, even if it is still in implementing phase. This is the reason we consider that data base of interpreters is  the important contribution of MARRI RC and UK Embassy in Skopje, in order to support WB6 on their strategic path towards institutional capacity building in line with EU standards.

Tamara Mugoša, Director of the Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI)

This text is guest post by Tamara Mugoša, Director of MARRI for the British Embassy Skopje as part of the cooperation on tackling migration in the region.