Trpe Stojanovski, Ph.D Director Strasbourg, 17 th December, 2010

 Organizational issues  MARRI Strategy  MARRI regional projects: Current situation and further promotion  Seminar “Citizenship Legislation and Practices – Overview of the State of Affairs in MARRI Member States”

 MARRI RC is a forum, bringing together the countries of the region on migration issues  Each out of six MARRI Member States has it’s own representatives in the MARRI RC in Skopje, as full working post  MARRI Strategy & Action Plan is properly balanced with the EU documents oriented to MARRI MS, SEECP, as well as with SEE Regional Strategy Document (forthcoming)  Main Outcomes: - Ownership - Networking

 The MARRI Regional Centre signed MoU with ICMPD (2007), SEPCA (2008), IOM (2008), RCC (2009)  FRONTEX  MARRI’s intention is to institutionalize the cooperation with the other regional entities

 Strengthening regional ownership,  Enhancing regional cooperation,  Supporting EU integration through:  Policy harmonization on a regional level,  Legislation reform,  State administration capacity building,  Awareness raising

 Consular Meeting regarding Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Consular Protection and Services - Skopje, Macedonia, January 2010;  MARRI Diplomatic briefing/MARRI Friends Meeting - Skopje, Macedonia, January 2010  Meeting “Capacities of MARRI Member States’ Border Police in Implementation of Readmission Agreements” - Skopje, Macedonia, March 2010;  MARRI Regional Committee Meeting and Forum - Becici, Montenegro, April 2010;  Workshop on “Improvement and intensification of access to information and exchange data on migration and refugees among MARRI Member States No visa, no tariffs, free movement zone among MARRI Member States” - Tirana, Albania, June 2010  Meeting of the Network for cooperation among MARRI Member States’ national institutions in the field of Asylum “Challenges in 2010” Zlatibor and Banja Koviljaca, Serbia, June 2010;  Regional Workshop on “Introduction of Biometric Identifiers in the Reception and Processing of Visa Application“ - Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, July 2010  Belgium EU Presidency organized EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Forum on Justice and Home Affairs, November, 2010 in Brussels, where MARRI RC was invited

 Importance of the citizenship issue and the differences in the national policies - reason MARRI RC to initiate the seminar.  Experts from the MARRI Member States’ dealing with implementation of the citizenship legislation, come together.  The Seminar presented opportunity to exchange views, ideas, best practices, identify gaps and possible sustainable solutions for citizenship issues in the field of legislation and its implementation as well as harmonization with European and International standards.  Contributed to establishment of contacts among MARRI Member States’ national experts which will increase and facilitate regional co-operation.  National feedback focused on existing national legislation, organizational structures, practices and procedures, analyzing in-depth procedures on different situations and identified gaps and needs and development of possible solutions.

 MARRI Member States’ national citizenship legislation needs to be based on and harmonized with relevant instruments of international law (i.e. European Convention on Nationality (CETS No.166), Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in relation to State Succession (CETS No. 200)  Reaffirming firm believe, that it is a matter for States to decide, subject to the fundamental rules of international law, which persons are their nationals, it is important for States to co-operate and co-ordinate their citizenship laws and theirs implementation in practice in order to deal with such issues as statelessness, state succession and multiple citizenship and their consequences.  The objective of the main European legal instrument in the area of citizenship - the European Convention on Nationality (CETS No.166) and the Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in relation to State Succession (CETS No. 200).

 States should be aware of the problems linked to the misuse of their citizenship laws and take any appropriate action to limit the opportunities for abuse, such as:  Situations in which the legislation may favor the misuse of citizenship laws (i) Acquisition of citizenship (ii) Renunciation of citizenship (iii) Deprivation of citizenship); Misuse by individuals by (i) Marriage (ii) Adoption (iii) Recognition (iv) Stateless persons (v) False acquisition of citizenship (vi) Criminal offences committed prior to the acquisition of a citizenship (vii) Possibilities of misuse of citizenship laws in the context of State succession (viii)

 Other possible sources of misuse of citizenship laws and measures adopted by states in order to prevent the misuse or abuse of citizenship laws (i) Situations in which the legislation may favor the misuse of citizenship laws (ii) Marriages of convenience (iii) Adoption (iv) Recognition (v) Stateless persons (vi) Fraudulent conduct, false acquisition and presentation of false documents (vii) Criminal Offences (viii) New reproductive technologies (ix) Acquisition of a second citizenship.  The problems of fraud and the presentation of false documentation are not unique to citizenship area. They are experienced on a far greater scale by the immigration authorities in most countries. Within a State there should be close co-operation between the immigration and citizenship authorities in order to minimize the opportunities for the misuse of citizenship laws.

 Exchange of views on the new trends or the types of misuse or abuse of citizenship laws on the basis of the problems and the possible remedies, including any preventive measures which are being taken by the States.  Regionally there is also scope for greater co-operation and the exchange of information, and States, where appropriate, should conclude bilateral and/or multilateral agreements in order to regulate matters of common interest and thereby prevent the misuse of their citizenship laws.  Establishment of a forum (e.g CoE The Committee of Experts on Nationality) in which information can be exchanged.  Development/improvement of permanent training systems for all stakeholders dealing with implementation of the citizenship legislation.  Exchanging the best practices among MARRI Member States

 The priority of the Citizenship issue should be noted in the SEE Strategy Paper, as well as in the MARRI Strategy & AP,  The Citizenship issue is one of the questions in the MARRI Questionnaire which will be address to MARRI MS, on the beginning of 2011  In 2011 is planed to organize follow up of the Tirana Conference, with goal to highlight the progress in the area of Citizenship on the WB.

 MARRI Interactive Migration Map  Assessment of Types of Identification Documents in MARRI Member States  Building a Regionally Integrated Approach for Successful Preventing and Combating of Trafficking in Human Beings (THB)  MARRI Migration Paper  MARRI Compilation of Migration Strategic Documents  ”Joint Comprehensive approach in Building Cooperation between MARRI Member States and SEPCA Member States’ Border Police on International Airports Border Crossing Points”  Participation in IPA Multi-beneficiary Program – MIDWEB Project – the electing is underway

 Periodically presentations for the Diplomatic Core and Friends of MARRI,  Meetings with the High level authorities from the MARRI MS are performed on permanent base  Presence of the MARRI RC on the EU meetings  Inviting the MARRI RC in the Board of the regional projects is highly requested  MARRI presents reports and event related documentation for exchange of information and facilitation of national cooperation for MARRI MS  MARRI press releases and newsletters  MARRI website