Promoting evidence-based refugee integration: Join our policy seminar in Brussels on 8 June
About the seminar
Since 2016, the National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM) has provided evidence on government policies for the integration of beneficiaries of international protection in 14 countries and a roadmap to improve the framework in place. Most recent results include NIEM’s third comprehensive monitoring report and in-depth analyses on persons under humanitarian protection and data gaps.
In this policy seminar, the MPG research team will present key results, introduce NIEM as a tool for evidence-based advocacy and discuss with European refugee integration stakeholders the way forward to fill the gaps in national protection and integration systems.
Agenda
Session 1 (9:30am-10:50am)
Towards a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response to refugee integration
As NIEM’s research shows, widely diverging integration standards exist across EU member states.
Throughout the assessed countries, the biggest gaps are found with regard to mainstreaming of refugee integration across policy areas as well as the collaborative implementation of policies together with civil society organisations and local/regional authorities. Lacking support for the involvement of the receiving society, missing participation of beneficiaries in integration policymaking and widespread data gaps further hamper effective refugee integration. Among the countries where these structural weaknesses of the integration framework are gravest are those that receive most of the people fleeing war in the current crisis.
Presentation of NIEM results:
Alexander Wolffhardt & Sinem Yilmaz, Migration Policy Group
Leading questions for debate:
- What are according to stakeholders the biggest weaknesses in the integration frameworks of member states, and is NIEM providing evidence for these gaps?
- How can evidence produced by research like NIEM be used as an advocacy tool at EU and member state levels (e.g., supporting needs assessments for the programming of EU funds or the identification of policy priorities)?
- How to build the case for better data availability and transparency to support the development, monitoring and evaluation of policies supporting refugee integration and to strengthen the role of data in policymaking?
Break
Session 2: 11:20am – 12.30pm
From precarity to irregularity? The forgotten fate of persons under humanitarian protection in Europe
The number of protection status granted on humanitarian grounds represented 14% of the total number of positive first-instance decisions on asylum applications in 2021 in the EU. Despite the increasing resort to national humanitarian status, the integration needs of this group of individuals are still overlooked at EU and national level. Humanitarian protection holders rarely experience favourable legal conditions to integrate in any area of life and huge gaps exist in those policies which should actively support integration, especially in the areas of housing and employment. Language and social orientation courses are almost inexistent. Moreover, emerging restrictive policies on humanitarian protection put people at a higher risk of becoming irregulars.
Presentation of NIEM results:
Carmine Conte, Migration Policy Group
Leading questions for debate:
- What are the potential policy options to improve national integration frameworks for persons under humanitarian protection status?
- How to diminish the looming threat of irregularity and widen (again) the eligibility criteria for migrants to access national protection status?
- What are the options to achieve a more harmonised and better justified use of humanitarian protection statuses across the EU?
12.30 – 13.30 Networking lunch
Alexander Wolffhardt, Deputy Directory, MPG
Carmine Conte, Legal Policy Analyst, MPG
Sinem Yilmaz, Integration Policy Analyst, MPG
About the National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM)
NIEM is a six-year long project that measures refugee integration policies in 14 EU Member States and establishes a framework for evidence-based policy-making.
About the Migration Policy Group (MPG)
MPG is an independent think-and-do-tank based in Brussels. MPG’s purpose is rooted in its ability to inspire networks to provide evidence-based projects, research and campaigns in the areas of integration, migration and anti-discrimination.