Educational seminar on a selected topic of migration and asylum was organised for the third year by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as the coordinator of the EMN National Contact Point in the Slovak Republic. This year the seminar was held in Bratislava from 19 – 21 August 2014. It was attended by more than fifty professionals working in the Slovak state and public institutions, academic field as well as non-governmental organisations.

During the seminar, leading Slovak and international experts presented information on causes of contemporary displacement and current situation with regard to forced migration, humanitarian operations as a response to conflicts and crises, asylum and other forms of international protection, resettlement as a vital tool of international protection and refugee hotspots in the Mediterranean region.

As a part of the seminar, a discussion evening entitled People Forced to Flee was held in KC Danube in Bratislava on 19 August 2014. International experts – Caroline Van Buren (UNHCR Regional Representation for Central Europe), Michael Gray (IOM Geneva) and José Angel Oropeza (IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean) – discussed forced migration, its causes, refugees and possibilities to help. The discussion was preceded by the screening of the documentary film Refugees: Who Needs Them?

Photos from the discussion.

More information on the EMN Educational seminar on Forced Migration – Causes and Possible Solutions is available on www.emn.sk/en.