International co-operation vital to improve integration of refugees | WPN World People News

Countries should increase their co-operation and information sharing to enable them to deal more effectively and quickly with inflows of humanitarian migrants, according to a new OECD report.

Ready to Help? Improving Resilience of Integration Systems for Refugees and other Vulnerable Migrants finds that the increase in the refugee population in OECD countries – from about 2 million in mid-2013 to about 6 million today – has had a highly concentrated impact, in geographical and demographic terms – but also in terms of the type of services placed under pressure.

While recent refugees are expected to increase the working-age population of European countries by 0.3% by the end of 2020, they face higher hurdles than other immigrant groups in integrating into the labour market, due to lower education levels and slow transition to employment. In some countries, the effect of the refugee inflow will be more apparent: in Austria, Greece and Sweden, recent refugees will increase the labour force by 0.5% and in Germany, by 0.8%. In Turkey, Syrian refugees already represent about 3% of the working-age population.

“Integration is as great a challenge if not greater than the challenges linked to initial reception of refugees and other vulnerable migrants,” said Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, OECD Deputy Secretary-General, launching the report in Paris at the Policy Dialogue on the Integration of Refugees and other Vulnerable Migrants. “Ensuring better integration requires an up-front investment.”

Building on the recommendations of the Global Compact on Refugees and OECD work, the report identifies a number of policies to improve integration. These include:

● Increasing international co-operation and collaboration. Countries were caught off-guard by the recent humanitarian refugee crisis, without an effective framework for sharing and using information to capture early signals of impending surges in demand, but also without an agreed mechanism for collaboration and mutual aid. Co-ordination with humanitarian, development and peace actors in developing countries hosting refugees – 85% of the world’s refugees are in developing countries – is also essential.

● Stepping up efforts to help refugees and vulnerable migrants find and stay in work. This includes improving transparency and simplicity in pathways to access the labour market; mainstream employment support; skills recognition; and language support.

● Working more closely with a wide variety of stakeholders involved in the integration of migrants, including civil society, the private sector, social partners, and government bodies at the sub-national level. In particular, employers have a key role to play, while coordination of national and local governments is necessary to improve buy-in, especially when people requesting protection are dispersed by central authorities to sub-national regions.

● Putting in place a clear long-term integration strategy, including provisions for return to origin countries when warranted.

● A crisis plan is also needed to identify partners, channels of communication and responsibilities in the face of large inflows of people seeking protection.

Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development