30^th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe– 22 to 24 March 2016

Refugee integration policy at local level: a debate at the 30^th session of the Congress

In a debate on refugee integration at local level held on 22 March 2016 at its 30^th session, members of the Congress discussed the experiences and difficulties faced by local authorities in Germany and Turkey as a result of the current wave of migrants. The conclusion of the discussion was unanimous: responses to the crisis had to be equal to the challenge and enable an emergency situation to be dealt with in the short and medium-term.

Profoundly shaken by the attacks in Brussels which occurred on 22 March, the same day as the debate, the speakers found it distressing that there was a real danger that these events could make the process of integrating migrants even more complicated in host countries overwhelmed by fear of the terrorist threat. They stressed the role of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe as the sole European forum giving representatives of local governments and local elected representatives the opportunity to exchange experiences and seek a common solution to cross-sectoral problems such as the integration of refugees.

Mustafa Dündar, mayor of the Turkish metropolitan district of Osmangazi in the city of Bursa, said that he would like to see Europe focus the same degree of seriousness on the events which had taken place in Turkey as it was on the latest attacks in Brussels. He felt that Turkey was not receiving enough support from its European partners in its attempt to deal with the migration crisis: it was the most significant upheaval the country had known since the Second World War, and a humanitarian catastrophe taking place on its borders that were being crossed daily by civilians fleeing the war in Syria. He thought that his country was shouldering the greatest burden of the crisis by following an open-door policy from as early as 2011. Turkey had currently taken in the largest number of Syrian refugees: 2,750,000 registered persons, not including those left out of official statistics. Since the beginning of the war, 200,000 Syrian babies had been born on Turkish soil.

Urgent efforts to adapt to the wave of migrants had, however, become par for the course in many other cities, especially in Germany, which had also implemented an open-door policy before deciding to close its borders. Thorsten Klute, State Secretary at the Ministry for Labour, Integration and Social Affairs of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said that the arrival of 1,230,000 migrants in the last few months had placed the national, regional and local authorities in an unprecedented situation. Over and above the budget which the local and regional authorities were able to set aside for needs incurred by refugee integration, the emergency situation had obliged the Federal government to provide significant financial aid.

He considered that the aim of current policy in this sphere ought to be to learn lessons from the past—“not to reinvent the wheel but to strengthen its spokes”—and therefore to make existing infrastructures more stable and effective. This involved taking on more staff in reception centres, schools and kindergartens, and also forging closer links between local government, charitable organisations and voluntary associations. This process also required efforts to convince refugee parents of the benefits of enrolling their children in after-school centres: these centres had recruited hundreds of additional teachers and community workers whose priority task was to teach German. In all, 1,300 integration classes had been set up in order to help ensure the rapid social integration of refugee children and parents in the host country.

Mr Klute was proud of the scale of the voluntary movement ready to assist the refugees in collaboration with the local authorities, despite the rise of the extreme right in Germany. The local authorities should encourage these volunteers by, for instance, defraying their travel expenses. He further pointed out that a quarter of the population of North Rhine-Westphalia had an immigration background, a fact which he linked to the considerable economic boom experienced by the region.

The situation in Cologne, where the events at the main square on New Year’s Eve had somewhat tarnished the image of the city and severely affected public trust, also now appeared to be more encouraging. Gabriele C. Klug, deputy mayor, acting head of the Department of Social Affairs, Integration and Environment of Cologne City Council stressed that these acts of aggression had not been committed by refugees but by an active minority that did not reflect the cosmopolitan and tolerant attitude of most citizens.

The city had a long tradition of taking in refugees which the local authorities had been able to call upon, and the deputy mayor was pleased to observe that it had proved successful. Its citizens had got together in response to the Cologne Appeal focusing upon the principles of life in society. A new citizen’s pact had been drawn up between the authorities and the civil population: “We reviewed our policies in order to ensure the safety and free movement of our citizens since the integration policy also involved a security component followed by a social one”, said Ms Klug.

The need to provide shelter for approximately 200 to 400 refugees every week (Syrian refugees and also migrants from south-east Europe) had generated a series of measures which Cologne City Council had listed in a report submitted to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe: “All our municipal services had to adapt and show resolve in addressing the situation”, emphasised the head of social affairs in the city. The City Council had therefore recruited a significant number of teachers and organised German classes for the new arrivals, where the main challenge had been to get the local population to accept that some sports halls had to be converted into reception centres. A co-ordination body had been set up to enhance the effectiveness of the joint work between the municipal services, and between the local authorities and the organisations concerned by the integration policy. The University of Cologne had also set up German language teaching initiatives. The organisation of integration classes and the sponsoring of migrant children by inhabitants of the city, along with the provision of adult education courses by volunteers, showed that the local authorities and citizens were working hand in hand in spite of all the existing prejudices.

This type of collaboration between the local population and municipal services also appeared to be the focus of attention for local authorities in Osmangazi in Turkey. Nonetheless, its mayor Mustafa Dündar, said that it was very difficult to integrate persons in distress into a shared social life with the Turkish population, especially since the refugees found it psychologically very difficult to cope with their loss of status. In their own country some of them had been engineers or medical doctors. They now found themselves without language proficiency and were obliged to take any job offered to them. In actual fact, right from the beginning, refugees had received an identity card and temporary work permit which enabled them to earn a living during their temporary stay in Turkey. Currently, 400,000 Syrians were working in Turkey, a problematic situation that encouraged illegal employment, recruitment of minors and exploitation of a workforce in disregard of employment laws.

Ninety-eight percent of Syrian refugees had moved to the cities in Turkey as against only 2% entering the camps. This situation, according to Mr Dündar, revealed the scale of the burden which fell to the local authorities in his country. He pointed out that Bursa had experienced seven migratory movements in its history including a major rural exodus in the 1950s and 60s. It was currently home to 95,000 Syrian refugees, more than any other Turkish municipality. With the support of the International Humanitarian Aid Foundation, the mayor of Osmangazi had been able to provide basic amenities to the refugees such as shelter, food, blankets and furnishings. 9,500 Arab teachers had been recruited in order to supervise the children of refugee families. Community education centres had mustered their resources to provide vocational training courses.

The general picture which emerged from the discussion on refugee integration policies at local level indicated that it was still too early to draw conclusions about whether they had been successful. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities must therefore continue this essential and fruitful exchange between local elected representatives in order to provide lasting solutions to the migration crisis at local level.