Citizenship and integration

Across Europe, government efforts to integrate migrants into wider society present challenges to their rights and interests. Migrants have not yet been meaningfully included in the discussion about what integration looks like for them, and what the pre-conditions are for their social inclusion. In particular, many migrants in the UK continue to face discrimination, finding themselves to be the subject of policies which make it more difficult for them to become part of local and national communities. The development of tougher ‘earned citizenship’ regulations in the UK will introduce new challenges for migrants seeking to settle in the UK.

We are exploring the ways in which a balanced and coherent approach towards integration can be adopted, which fosters positive relations and community empowerment. We are involved in work to assess good practice in terms of ‘integration strategies’ among governments across the European Union. In the UK, we are working with community based organizations to look at migrant political engagement at local and national level, and responding to the national ‘earned citizenship’ agenda.

Key projects

  • Migrants Rights and Integration Project (December 2008 - November 2011)

MRN is a UK coordinator for the Migrants’ Rights and Integration Project (MRIP), a European partnership bringing together organisations from six EU countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy, Sweden and the UK). MRIP’s objective is to examine good practice around integration strategies across the partner countries, and to identify whether the recently-defined EU approach to integration as “a process of ‘mutual accommodation’ on the part of both migrant and host communities” has offered greater opportunities for migrant communities to represent their key interests in dialogue and negotiations.

Contact: Don Flynn

 

  • Engage to Change project (March 2009 – February 2012)

MRN is working with the London-based Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum to produce regular research inquiries into migrant empowerment and political engagement in London.

Contact: Ruth Grove-White