Facilitating the Integration of Refugees

1. Facilitating the Integration of Refugees 1person forced to flee is too much. 1person forced to flee is too much.

2. Refugees are victims of persecution, conflict and serious human rights violations and have been forced to flee their country.

3. What are the characteristics of an integration process? • A dynamic process involving refugees, the receiving society and the individual and social environment. • Access to an opportunity to build a life project, full enjoyment of rights, living in an environment that is free of discrimination and violence, and the ability to meet essential needs. • Three lasting solutions: Voluntary repatriation, local integration, and resettlement. 1person forced to flee is too much.

4. The Dimensions of Integration 1person forced to flee is too much.

5. Protection and Integration: A Shared Task 1person forced to flee is too much.

6. What should be the approach for integration processes? • Integration should have a human rights approach. • Ensuring civil rights such as economic, social and cultural rights: Actions – through international assistance and cooperation and through other, additional efforts – especially in the economic and technical sphere, that gradually lead to the full enjoyment of these rights. • No discrimination whatsoever for reasons of race, colour, gender, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, economic position, birth or any other social condition. 1person forced to flee is too much.

7. What does a human rights approach mean? • To ensure a dignified life free of violence • Legal status (to be a subject with legal rights) • Effective access to justice (administrative and judicial) • Food • Health • Employment • Fair working conditions EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW, • Social security NO DISCRIMINATION • Housing • Cultural development • A healthy environment • Family • Education 1person forced to flee is too much.

8. Integration in instruments on protection of refugees and asylum seekers • The peaceful, humanitarian and apolitical nature of international protection for asylum and refuge seekers. • Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 • Who is a refugee; who may request asylum; • Basic rights of refugees in the receiving society. • Declaration and Plan of Action of Mexico (2004) • Establishing appropriate conditions for refugees in order to reduce the possibility that they seek protection in a third country or are forced to “induced refoulement”. • Proposing new strategies relating to self-sufficiency and local integration (“Ciudades solidarias [supportive cities] and “Fronteras solidarias” [supportive borders]). • Taking into account the reality of receiving communities in designing local integration projects, and considering mechanisms for participation of civil society. 1person forced to flee is too much.

9. Specific Challenges • Absence of integration programmes; • Lengthy processes to issue resolutions on refugee status applications; • High costs of document issuance and lack of knowledge about the currency of documents; • Access to employment (remunerated, self-employment, independent professionals); • Access to college and technical education; • Validation of education/academic degrees; • Access to banking services; • Discrimination, xenophobia and social and economic exclusion; • Considering the profiles of each person (urban refugees, rural refugees, education, skills, age, etc.); • The possibility of being granted permanent resident status or naturalization. 1person forced to flee is too much.

10. Pillars of the Integration Process • An approach considering human rights and international refugee law; • Facilitating a dignified life for refugees and their families, as well as self-sufficiency, considering specific circumstances (urban refugees, rural refugees, education, skills, age, etc.) • Oriented toward consolidating a lasting solution; • Implementing actions considering specific protection needs (age, gender, religious belief, culture, gender identity, etc.); • Equal access to essential services and social programmes. 1person forced to flee is too much.

11. Pillars of Integration • The primary role of the State in integration processes; • Dynamic and sustained action strategies based on public policy, legislation and institutional actions; • Active participation of refugees; • Active participation of receiving communities and civil society organizations; • To continuously combat discrimination and xenophobia; • Cooperation between partners and exchanging best practices; • An on-going assessment of the situation. 1person forced to flee is too much.

12. A Brief Summary of theCosta Rica Experience 1person forced to flee is too much.

13. Relevant Advances Relating to Integration • Adoption of a Public Policy on Migration that incorporates integration as one of its postulates; • Adoption of an appropriate regulatory framework (General Migration and Immigration Act No. 8764, Bylaws on Refugees / Decree No. 36.831-G, September 2011); • Establishment of the Directorate of Integration and Human Development; • The right to identity documents and employment of refugees: Art. 108, General Migration and Immigration Act; • The right to employment of refugee status applicants. 1person forced to flee is too much.

14. Strategic Actions for Protection and Integration • The needs of refugees are reflected in central State initiatives, such as the Public Policy on Migration and the National Integration Plan; • An agreement with the Supreme Electoral Court to promote the possibility of naturalization (the highest degree of integration of a refugee in the receiving country). • Education (access and validation): • MEP: An alternative mechanism to validate high school education, awareness-raising and information campaigns; • INA: An agreement on promoting access to technical education; • CONARE: Actions toward establishing an inter-institutional team in charge of case analysis. 1person forced to flee is too much.

15. Experiencing Integration: A Joint Programme for Access to Decent Employment • Actors: AED, DGME (DIDH), UNHCR and the NGO ACAI; • Collaboration with the private sector (Chamber of Commerce, CINDE, AECOL, AMCHAM, etc.); • Promoting social responsibility programmes in enterprises; • Mediation for job placement; • A programme to support micro-businesses; • Training for employment. Key Results, 2013 1person forced to flee is too much.

16. No one chooses to be a refugee… [ Refugees have no choice. You do. ] 1person forced to flee is too much. 1person forced to flee is too much.