Erbil: Today, the Silk Routes Partnership project team handed over the certificates to 22 trainers marking the successful completion of a ten day Training of Trainers (ToT) course on migration. The trainees came from the Ministry of Migration and Displacement and the Ministry of Interior of the Federal Government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

The training aimed at equipping the selected trainers with the necessary tools for conveying concepts of legal migration, trafficking in human beings, irregular migration, migrant smuggling, border management, forced migration and the international and European framework on international protection as well as teaching and communication techniques. In conclusion of the two week course, the newly inducted trainers prepared their own module on the Iraqi legal and institutional framework related to international protection.

During this two week course, experts from Argentina, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Slovakia, Serbia and the United Kingdom shared their respective areas of expertise with the Iraqi counterparts. Furthermore training manuals on each migration module were prepared and distributed to all participants, with facilitating material on each topic as well as various exercises and training techniques. With this manual, the newly inducted trainers will have the resources at hand to conduct their own trainings within their ministries and departments. 

The overall objective of the Silk Routes Partnership project is to strengthen the migration management capacities of the Silk Routes countries Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan both at a national and – together with Bangladesh and Iran - also at a regional level.