ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Germany’s primary development agency signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to raise awareness about migration among residents of the Region who are considering moving abroad. The initiative aims to encourage legal migration pathways over dangerous and irregular routes.
The memo was signed between the KRG's Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC) and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ).
"This is the first time such an agreement has been signed with GIZ that is specifically about spreading migration awareness in the Kurdistan Region,” Reber Ahmed, KRG’s interior minister, told reporters during a joint press conference with Albrecht Von Wittke, German consul general in Erbil.
He added that the aim of the MoU is "to make young people aware of the hardships and difficulties of illegal migration to European countries, especially Germany."
GIZ says on its website that the organization’s mission in Iraq includes advising “returnees on reintegration and provides an advisory service for people interested in regular migration.”
According to German police, in the first four months of this year, 22,170 migrants entered the country, some of whom are Kurds.
"In spreading awareness, through several centers in provinces and independent administrations, pathways for legal migration for young people will also be facilitated,” Ahmed noted. "Anyone who wants to reach a European country for any purpose, especially Germany, will be made aware that they can reach their destination through legal and safe means, without putting their own life and that of their relatives at risk. One of these ways is learning the German language."
According to the latest figures the Kurdish Association of Returned Refugees has provided Rudaw, nearly 6,000 people from the Kurdistan Region migrated to European Union countries between the beginning of this year and the end of August.
