On Policy Coherence in Managing Integration: the Case of Irregular Migration & Employment: Proceedings
- Document number
- 1403
- Date
- 2007
- Title
- On Policy Coherence in Managing Integration: the Case of Irregular Migration & Employment: Proceedings
- Author/publisher
- Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), Anti-Racism & Diversity Intergroup Lunch
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Meeting Documentation/Conference Reports,
- Keywords
- Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour;
- Summary
- Migration and integration are at the fore front of the public debate in Europe today. However it is clear that across the European Union there are a wide variety of approaches to migrant integration, and many question have emerged. Who are we integrating? Integrating into what? Is citizenship a reward or precondition for integration? There is no common European answer to these questions, but the European Union is having a bigger and bigger impact on integration policy across all member states. Integration as a phenomenon is integrally linked to questions of inclusion and exclusion and the type of societies we live in. However a lack of policy coherence between the areas of migration, integration, social inclusion and anti-discrimination has in many cases led migrants to fall through the gap left by such a vacuum, exposing them to social exclusion and discrimination.According to a recent ENAR survey, the lack of policy coordination appears to be most serious at the national and European levels, suggesting that policy coherence diminishes the further removed policy-makers are from those most directly affected, and that therefore there is a need for efforts to reinforce consultation and participation processes.Nowhere is the incoherence between integration and migration more evident than in the case of policies aimed at controlling irregular migration. For instance action in the field of irregular employment, often seen as a catalyst for irregular migration, focuses almost exclusively on repressive measures, without accounting for the impact of these measures on the rights of migrants, the imperatives of integration, or the attitudes of majority populations.
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