A/HRC/29/36 35. In its upcoming “Return Handbook”, due to be adopted in 2015, the Commission will expressly refer to relevant guidance documents from the Fundamental Right agency concerning the treatment of irregular migrants who are subject of return procedures. This handbook will also discuss key access to justice concerns in relation to migrants in situations of return.28 The draft students and researchers Directive 36. This draft legislation, proposed by the European Commission on 25 March 2013, aims to determine the conditions of entry and residence, and the rights, of students and researchers from non-EU countries to benefit from training and academic opportunities in the region. It recasts the existing Directives in this area with the main aim of facilitating admission and stay of these categories of third-country nationals in the EU. It is framed as a response to shifts in demographics and competition dynamics within the EU. 29 Whilst it is currently being negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council and is not adopted yet, the draft Directive recognises the role that non-EU nationals can play in responding to the demographic and societal shifts being seen in the EU. The FRA annual conference 37. On 10-11 November, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), together with the Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU, held its annual Fundamental Rights Conference, which was this year dedicated to the topic of fundamental rights and migration to the EU. 38. The event brought together over 300 EU and national decision makers, members of national parliaments, the judiciary, law enforcement agencies, and experts from international organisations, as well as national human rights bodies, civil society bodies and academics involved with migration issues on a daily basis. Speakers included EU Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Laura Boldrini, Italian Undersecretaries of State Senator Benedetto della Vedova and Domenico Manzione, MEP and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, Iliana Iotova, German Minister of State, Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration, Aydan Özoguz, FRA Director Morten Kjaerum, and Swedish Minister for Public Administration at the Ministry of Finance, Ardalan Shekarabi. 39. Participants agreed that the EU and its Member States should develop a more holistic approach to their migration and asylum policy. It was emphasised that fundamental rights are not just one element of such policies, but on the contrary form the normative framework in which they must be situated. It was emphasised at many points throughout the conference that the EU and its Member States need a comprehensive and sustainable migration policy, and that a new and positive narrative is necessary to counter the current negative image of migrants and migration that stresses the benefits of migration both to migrants themselves and to the countries hosting them. This is particularly true at present, as projected demographic trends in the EU mean that many areas of the economy may face an increasing shortage of labour in the coming years. Specific and practical measures are 28 29 32 European Commission, 2015, “Reply by DG Migration and Home Affairs to the questions by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants”. European Commission, 2013, “DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training voluntary service and au pairing”.