EuroCities Statement on asylum in cities

In its Statement on asylum in cities released today Eurocities urges, among other interesting recommendations, that the right to work should be granted to asylum seekers after the lodging of their asylum claim so as to ensure their successful social and economic integration and participation in their local settings. 

We reproduce hereafter extracts of Eurocities' Statement: 

Sufficient financial support should be available to cities to help them offer asylum seekers quick and effective access to language training. Asylum seekers must have the right to be gainfully employed and be entitled to equal treatment, pending a definitive decision on their asylum claim. Recognition of their qualifications and of their entrepreneurial potential should also be facilitated. This would enhance their long term ability to contribute to local economies and society, before and after refugee status is granted, furthering their chances of better and faster integration in our society. 

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Cities in arrival, transit and destination countries in Europe are in a central position regarding the social, humanitarian and financial challenges caused by this situation. We have a particular role in the guarantee of basic protection to asylum claimants and in the reception and integration of newcomers in our society. Our cities are also the places where asylum seekers wait for a decision on their Refugee Status Determination process and where services are provided to them. Finally, it is in our cities that asylum claimants often remain as undocumented migrants if their asylum applications are rejected and return decisions are not applicable or enforced. Their exclusion from service provision would have a detrimental impact on social cohesion, public health and protection of fundamental rights. 

Role of cities 

As cities, we have a lot to lose from policies that consign asylum seekers to deprivation and exclusion or that put them at risk of becoming victims of abusive employers and landlords, smugglers, human traffickers and organised crime. Activities to manage the consequences of migration and support integration are largely carried out locally. Each city has specific situations to deal with and there are differences between EU countries when facing asylum issues. Sharing responsibilities across Europe today will be crucial to help ensure that those cities and territorial now taking measures to receive newcomers will still be able to do so in the future.

It is our role to ensure that asylum seekers settle in well for the duration of their stay, however short or long. This requires systematic and concerted efforts at the local level with a range of stakeholders to provide professional social support and guidance for asylum seekers. Failing to integrate refugees into our societies impedes the respect of  fundamental rights as well as the full realisation of the benefits immigration can bring; it inhibits asylum seekers from making a contribution to host societies and can prove costly in the long term for local as well as for national authorities. 

European cities and member states have to find effective and long-term solutions to protect social cohesion and ensure a successful social and economic integration of asylum seekers and recognised refugees. 

We support the EU Commission’s ambition to promote a new agenda on EU migration policy but we regret that this does not address the whole range of migration and integration issues especially with respect to the issue of asylum. We also support the : 

• Measures to facilitate the integration of asylum seekers and refugees at local level

The adoption of specific measures to avoid physical and psychological harm to vulnerable persons at immediate risk of destitution, through the implementation of a coordinated approach at national and local levels. These measures have to ensure that fundamental rights (such as accommodation, subsistence, healthcare) of asylum seekers are met in full and that financial support is made available to local authorities by the EU and member states for the successful implementation of EU directives. 

Sufficient financial support should be available to cities to help them offer asylum seekers quick and effective access to language training. Asylum seekers must have the right to be gainfully employed and be entitled to equal treatment, pending a definitive decision on their asylum claim. Recognition of their qualifications and of their entrepreneurial potential should also be facilitated. This would enhance their long term ability to contribute to local economies and society, before and after refugee status is granted, furthering their chances of better and faster integration in our society.

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As frontline service providers, often responsible for taking care of asylum seekers, city authorities should be directly involved by national and EU institutions in the implementation of the Common European Asylum System, sharing responsibilities and ensuring a fair distribution of effort across Europe.

A more systematic involvement of cities, together with the changes we propose, will contribute substantially to Europe’s ability to respond to one of its most urgent challenges and better enable cities to ensure the successful social and economic integration of asylum seekers and recognised refugees.