Straddling the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, the Republic of Azerbaijan has long played an important role as a regional entry point for the flow of goods and people. As a transcontinental country, Azerbaijan is at once bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and the Islamic Republic of Iran to the south. Historically, this made Azerbaijan a major milestone on the Silk Road.

Today, Azerbaijan remains a strategic hub for trade and diverse cultures, and hosts labour migrants from every country in the region.

The region also faces shared migration challenges, including protracted refugee situations, return migration and increasing flows of irregular migration, all of which calls for a regional approach in managing the challenges. Therefore, strengthening the capacities of relevant stakeholders, including migration officials, civil society organizations, media and academia is of utmost importance for as the Regional Needs Assessment conducted by IOM demonstrated. Additionally, a migration profile was conducted for each target country, as part of efforts to identify the gaps and needs in the region in relation to migration management and capacity development.

The work has been part of a project supported by the IOM Development Fund to establish the Regional Training Centre on Migration (RTCM) in Azerbaijan. The centre aims to enhance regional training capacities and cooperation on migration management in the region and beyond, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 4, 10, 16, 17, as well as to the realization of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) as a whole.

In addition to Azerbaijan, the RTCM has partnered with 12 other countries: Belarus, Georgia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Moldova, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Republic of Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Government authorities from the region in front of the RTCM in Azerbaijan following a one-day training on human trafficking.  

Currently the RTCM is in its initial phase and is shaping into a full-fledged institution with its own website, building and network of experts and trainers. So far, four training workshops were successfully provided within the RTCM, both locally and regionally, to various stakeholders to introduce migration concepts and terminology, international migration law and human trafficking.

When fully operational, the RTCM’s vision is to be a hub for gathering and sharing knowledge on migration governance and management, building awareness of the multifaceted aspects of migration and the wide range of policy responses, strengthening technical and operational capacities, and improving cooperation in the region.

Moreover, 15 stakeholders from Azerbaijan and other countries, recently received in-depth training on the newly developed RTCM curriculum and will now join a pool of trainers at the RTCM. They will initially be involved in conducting roll-out sessions in their own countries.

IOM Azerbaijan’s Chief of Mission, Vladimir Gjorgjiev highlighted the importance of the training of trainers, “which provides an opportunity for representatives from the countries of the region to learn the RTCM migration management curriculum and share their best practices and experiences of teaching.”

“Such training creates the basis for the formation of experienced trainers in the field of migration, which is the main guarantee for the success of the RTCM,” said Gjorgjiev.

15 stakeholders took part in a training of trainers on key migration terms and concepts held at the Regional Training Centre on Migration in Azerbaijan.

In the long-term, it is expected that RTCM training courses will provide participating states with access to improved, up-to-date knowledge on migration, as well as best practices, methodologies and lessons learned, while promoting the implementation of international norms and best practices.

“Migration experts and trainers from the countries of the region who participated in the training will play a leading role in the field of teaching migration knowledge and skills and become a catalyst in increasing literacy on migration in the region in the near future,” said Vusal Huseynov, Chief of Azerbaijan’s State Migration Service.