Research Papers

Since the beginning of 2000-s the EU has been involved in migration management in Central Asia. Two big programmes 'BOMCA' and 'CADAP' as well as smaller projects have been set up in order to deal with human and drug trafficking and to promote orderly human mobility. These initiatives have a clear policy-transfer focus implying the existence of learning potential on the part of Central Asian migration and border services that would result in policy changes on national and, ideally, regional level. Nevertheless, the efficiency of these programmes has often been questioned. The reasons for this, to name just a few, are poor EU local expertise, low level of regional cooperation and high conflict potential among Central Asian states, as well as the absence of Russia in the regional migration management schemes proposed by the EU. Last, but not least, the EU's migration management efforts in this region have contributed to a growing number of international organisations being directly involved in the field. Looking at these international donors and implementing organisations this paper argues that the patterns of interaction developed among them has had a rather destructive impact on the EU's declared policy transfer efforts and, more generally, on regional migration management capacity building.