EUMC European Round Table Helsinki 4'10'2006

1
EUMC European Round TableHelsinki 4.10.2006

• Workgroup 1
• Access to goods and services

2
Main barriers for integration access to goods
and services

• Legal and administrative barriers
• Financial and Human resources and capacities
• Social barriers - Attitudes

3
Legal and administrative barriers

• Legal status of immigrants (6) - Different
  immigrant status different visas- different
  permits citizenship exception
• Work permits restricted brave to denounce black
  labor exploitation
• Fragile position of clients ask for services
  they are entitled too or claim protection.
  Formal lt-gt substantial factual access
• No anti-discrimination legal framework in some
  cases - Lack of an equality body - Lack of an
  effective applicable anti-discrimination law
• More immigration crisis management instead of
  integration policy going on
• Monitoring of integration discrimination
  limited research no system of monitoring of
  social services delivery e.g. on the basis of
  faith (e.g. to muslim community) - Lack of
  sensitive targeted social services on delivery
  meet peoples needs.
• Lack of competence of staff into public services
  to the public light up a debate on integration
  etc.

4
Financial and Human resources and capacities

• Language skills (5) - Asking too much language
  skills to access to work of the customers and
  of the service providers
• Formal integration services (Ministries) without
  effective resources only declarative
• General crisis for providing social services to
  people. The first groups to suffer from these
  cuts are the most excluded ones. No consultation
  with immigrant communities on cutting a budget
  even where there is one when planning policies.
• Lack of resources for services long waiting
  lists for needs
• Waiting for EU funding to implement integration
  policies
• Information of the target groups about goods and
  services

5
Social barriers - Attitudes

• Sensitizing the majority population
• Social isolation segregation limited access to
  goods and services
• Negative attitudes of service providers hidden
  discrimination (e.g.ageism)
• New experience (immigration no knowledge no
  consultation)
• Xenophobia people dont know much about
  immigrants
• Lack of information understanding about ethnic
  minorities disadvantaged groups a fear to
  engage with issues stereotypes problems to
  employ muslims (cultural ignorance etc.)
• Scapegoating going on today in Europe media
  images and discourse speaking about groups
  instead of individuals - classification

6
Recommendations-EU

• EU- Work permit and visa not linked to a specific
  employment in order to guarantee access to
  protection of exploitation competent workers
  protection services.
• EU-access to services not linked to immigrant
  status.
• EU-review the race-equality directive
  abolishing the citizenship exception of the
  anti-discr.dir
• EU-review the family reunif. directive the
  partner joining in the EU should have independent
  status (gender sensitive).
• EU encourage the European Commission to
  evaluate the impact of differing immigrant
  statuses to factual access to goods and services.

7
Recommendations-NL

• How to break social isolation
• How to reach better the target group
• How to guarantee participation

8

• NL- Monitoring and evaluation of implementation
  and impact of integration policies on access to
  goods and services on the basis of different
  immigrant categories and statuses (legal,
  cultural, gender dimension etc.) seen as
  different client groups
• NL- Statistics and data indicators factual
  benchmarking in consultation close cooperation
  with the target group - form of accountability
  (prerequisite for integration)
• NL - Encourage statutory bodies to reach the
  target groups collecting and promoting best
  practices integration services to promote
  access language issue
• NL - Finance NGOs as established consolidated
  service providers on a long-term basis follow
  and disseminate good practices (already
  implemented by various orgs-NGOs on national
  levels) directing qualifications standards
  and monitoring
• NL- EU funding should be used as pilot-funding
  promoting and encouraging best practices. Regular
  funding should be responsibility of the national
  state.

9

• NL - Use the immigrant communities expertise as
  client organizations to inform about goods and
  services public service providers obliged to
  consult local immigrant organizations and be
  accountable by reporting to the latter about
  their policies and their effective implementation
  and impact.
• NL- Specific attention should be drawn upon
  gender specific issues
• NL- Targeted intercultural training for service
  providers. Obligation to include diversity issues
  and service providing to immigrant groups to the
  public servants providers training. In
  consultation with the client groups and
  specialized NGOs. Carrot-money /incentives to set
  up diversity management training.
• NL- Guarantee commitment and sharing of
  objectives by the leadership into diversity
  anti-discrimination issues. Encourage regular
  reporting evaluation.

10

• NL- Encourage recruitment of immigrants and
  minority members to public service providers.
• NL- Discrimination officers and Diversity
  sensitive internal complaint and recruitment
  systems to public services, which mostly provide
  services to client groups (police, labor
  agencies, local administration etc.)
• NL- A pro-active information policy that is,
  encourage and support by public funding national
  and ethnic media representing client groups in
  promoting integration activities, such as
  producing programs, public information,
  advertisement on issues concerning integration
  and anti-discrimination.
• NL-Encourage support and inform about funding for
  immigrant client groups to start businesses as
  service providers (tax discounts, incentives
  etc.) guaranteeing equal access to services that
  are linked to integration through employment.
• NL-Access to client groups should be integrated
  part of development policies and plans (e.g.in
  newly developing areas and in new information
  technology projects) since the beginning and not
  an issue to deal with a posteriori.

11
Working Group 1 Access to Goods and Services

• Chair Mikko Puumalainen, Ombudsman for
  Minorities of Finland
• Rapporteur Miltiadis Pavlou, ANTIGONE, Greece
• Aarne Veedla, Office of the Minister for
  Population and Ethnic Affairs
• Thomas Schwarz, EUMC
• Burhan Hamdon, Hakunila International Society
• Clarisse De Lorme, European Womens Lobby
• Ms Lucie Otahalova, Secretariat of the Government
  Council for Human Rights of the Czech Republic
• Sinikka Keskinen, Ministry of Labour of Finland
• Mateja Mrak-Thorne, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  of Slovenia
• Helena Hamalainen, Association of Employees
• Julie Anderson, the Irish Department of Justice,
  Equality and Law Reform
• Helen Lawry, The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland
• Michael OShea, NUIM
• Anne Marie Larsen, Aarhus Municipality
• Abdul-Rehman Malik, FAIR
• Geert Ates, UNITED
• Sigita Zankovska-Odinga, Latvian Centre for Human
  Rights
• Charmaine Grech, Jesuit Centre for Faith and
  Justice