On 1 December 2016, the Czech EMN National Contact Point organised a conference on Integration of Refugees: 25 Years of Experience of the Czech Republic. The aim of the event was to assess the implementation of the State Integration Programme of the Czech Republic and to compare experience and practices of other EU Member States.
The participants were welcomed in the introductory panel by representatives of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) of the Czech Republic, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Regional Representative for Central Europe of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The following first panel focused on integration process of refugees in the Czech Republic, more specifically the evaluation of the first year of implementation of the State Integration Programme. Pavel Dymeš from the Asylum and Migration Policy Department of the MoI introduced the programme and at the same time provided an overview of the numbers and origin of asylum applicants in the Czech Republic. The State Integration Programme which is open for both refugees and persons granted subsidiary protection including resettled and relocated persons, started to be implemented in 2016 and its main pillars are language education, access to labour market, access to proper housing and education of children and adults. The programme is partially financed from the state budget and partially from the AMIF. Among programme partners are MoI as the coordinator as well as NGOs, churches, employers, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic. Between January to October 2016, 1273 asylum applications were lodged in the Czech Republic while asylum was granted to 146 persons and 268 persons were granted subsidiary protection. Petr Pondělíček from Refugee Facilities Administration of the MoI described reception and accommodation facilities and centres for support of integration of foreigners in the Czech Republic which provide social and legal counselling, Czech language courses and cultural orientation courses. Provision of integration services was presented by Pavla Müllerová from Caritas Czech Republic which acts as a general provider of integration services in the Czech Republic. Currently, 428 persons participate in the programme while approximately half of them is situated in Prague. The most common nationalities are Syrians, Ukrainians, Iraqis, Cubans and stateless persons. Caritas cooperates in the integration process with 21 sub-contractors of services which prepare an Integration Plan directly with a client. The mid-term evaluation is conducted after 6 months and the final one after 12 months.
The speakers of the second panel compared experience with integration of refugees in the EU Member States. Veronika Vasileva from ICF International (EMN service provider) presented the results of the EMN study on Integration of Beneficiaries of International/ Humanitarian Protection into the Labour Market: Policies and Practices. Hans Lemmens from the EMN National Contact Point for the Netherlands and Petra Achbergerová from the Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic presented about integration of refugees in their Member States. Government of the Netherlands has signed a cooperation agreement with municipalities regarding housing of refugees. In connection to this, municipalities have found suitable premises e.g. beneficiaries of international protection were accommodated together with students or a former school has been transformed into housing for beneficiaries of international protection. However, differences among municipalities still pose a challenge. Slovakia is currently preparing a State Integration Programme which will be implemented in 2017. The biggest challenge preventing the beneficiaries of international protection to find employment in Slovakia is the language barrier. Even though they are considered as disadvantaged job seekers, they cannot access employment counselling, employment offers or vocational training as they do not speak Slovak well enough.
This article was elaborated based on the available conference material and reports. More information about the conference including programme and presentations is available on the Czech EMN NCP website.