The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, jointly with the Association of Polish Cities, organised on 24 June 2024 in Rzeszow, Poland, a roundtable to discuss the preparation of a national migration strategy for 2025-2030. The event gathered more than 40 local elected representatives, public officials from the Ministry of Interior and Administration, and representatives from international and civil society organisations.
“Central authorities should support the local and regional level in assessing the needs of migrants and for better protection of their rights, safety and well-being,” underlined Congress member Annika Vaikla (Estonia, ILDG) at the opening of the roundtable. “They should do so through regular and structured consultations with local and regional authorities at every step of policy design, and by allocating sufficient funding and resources for social service delivery,” she added. Participants put forward specific proposals regarding the future role of local and regional authorities within Poland’s multilevel governance system.
On the following day, 25 June 2024, the Community of Practice on Migration and Human Rights held its 4th meeting, to discuss good practices and proposals for responding to specific needs of children, women and youth refugees. The meeting brought together local authorities from Poland, Romania and the Republic of Moldova as well as migration experts and civil society organisations. Its conclusions will help to develop two specific tools in support of migration management, human rights and inclusion at local level.
The events were organised in partnership with the Association of Polish Cities (APC) and the City of Rzeszow as part of the project “Strengthening resilience in local and regional authorities facing migration challenges” implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe, with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany’s financial contribution.
