The European Migration Network (EMN) is an EU body established by Council Decision 2008/381/EC to provide up-to-date, objective, reliable and comparable information on migration and asylum to EU institutions, Member State authorities and the wider public. It is coordinated by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME), with operational support historically provided by ICF on behalf of the Commission.
The EMN operates through National Contact Points (NCPs) in each EU Member State plus Norway, with additional observer countries including Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Ukraine and several Western Balkan states. Each NCP typically sits within a ministry of interior, migration agency, or affiliated research institute, and coordinates a national network of stakeholders such as academics, NGOs, and statistical offices.
Core outputs include:
- Annual Reports on Migration and Asylum, summarising legal, policy and statistical developments across participating states.
- Studies on focused topics such as labour migration, unaccompanied minors, return policy, statelessness, and integration.
- EMN Inform briefs — short comparative notes on specific policy questions.
- Ad-Hoc Queries (AHQs), a rapid information-exchange tool where one state poses a question and others respond, typically within four weeks.
- The EMN Glossary, a standard reference of migration and asylum terminology used widely by researchers and practitioners.
The network is funded principally through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and co-financed by Member States. Its work feeds into instruments such as the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and the 2020 Pact on Migration and Asylum, providing the evidence base for legislative proposals and Council discussions.
For MUN delegates and researchers, the EMN is a particularly useful source because its comparative methodology produces standardised data across jurisdictions that otherwise use divergent definitions — addressing a persistent challenge in migration research.
Example
In its 2022 Annual Report on Migration and Asylum, the EMN documented Member States' responses to the arrival of displaced persons from Ukraine following the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive in March 2022.
Frequently asked questions
No. It is a network coordinated by the European Commission's DG HOME, composed of National Contact Points in Member States and Norway, rather than a standalone agency like Frontex or EUAA.
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