Exchanging Knowledge, Enhancing Capacities, Developing Mechanisms: IOM's Role in the Implementation of the EU–Russia Readmission Agreement

Abstract

Research on European Union (EU)–Russia cooperation in migration issues often neglects important actors involved in these seemingly bilateral arrangements. This paper questions the role that the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has been playing in the EU–Russia cooperation in migration management. The analysis is situated in the theoretical framework describing international organisations (IOs) as bureaucracies and within the discussions about international migration governance and migration management. The paper describes the context of the EU–Russia migration management cooperation and identifies the major activities of IOM in Russia. Treating IOs as bureaucracies that pursue their own interests, the paper argues that, far from being a mere implementing body, IOM is an actor that, to a significant extent, has shaped the outcome of EU–Russia migration dialogue. At the same time, it is the context of this bilateral cooperation that has allowed IOM to strengthen its position vis-à-vis both Russia and the EU and to be successful in the competition with other IOs.

Keywords:

• Migration Policy
• Readmission
• IOM
• European Union
• Russian Federation

Acknowledgements

My special thanks for comments on earlier drafts to Paul-André Rosental, Catherine de Wenden and the two guest editors of this special issue. Many thanks to the organisers and participants of the conference ‘Acteurs administratifs et professionnels des migrations: articuler les dynamiques nationales, européennes et internationales’ that was held on 6–7 June 2011 in Paris. I also want to thank Rainer Bauböck and other members of the Migration Working Group at the European University Institute. Many thanks to Claudia Ciobanu for polishing my text. I gratefully acknowledge the financial and institutional assistance of the programme ‘Research in Paris’ (2010–2011) during my postdoctoral stay at CERI-Sciences Po and of the RSCAS (EUI, Florence) provided through a Jean Monnet Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011–2013).

Notes

[1] In this article, the term ‘IOs’ is used in its narrow sense and refers only to intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) such UN agencies (e.g. UNCHR) or IGOs outside the UN system (e.g., IOM).

[2] IOM official website, http://www.iom.int/jahia/jsp/index.jsp.

[3] Interviews with the representatives of ILO, UNDP, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Almaty, Astana and Bishkek. March–April 2011.

[4] The interesting fact is that many of these EU documents are based on knowledge produced by ICMPD, IOM and other IOs (Geiger 2011); on the production of knowledge for migration policy-making, see Boswell (2009).

[5] See the websites of IOM in Moldova and Ukraine: http://www.iom.md/ and http://iom.org.ua/en/.