Sponsorship Programmes in Europe: Lessons Learned and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Sponsorship Programmes in Europe: Lessons Learned and Recommendations for Future Development

Petra Hueck, International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC Europe) & the SHARE Network Humanitarian Corridors for European Solidarity Italian Chamber of Deputies, Rome, 1 July 2019

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Overview Overview

• Introduction to ICMC & the SHARE Network
• Sponsorship in Europe, facts & figures
• Italian Humanitarian Corridors in the context of sponsorship in Europe
• Recommendations for sustainable sponsorship programmes in the future

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

The SHARE Project

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The SHARE Project

• verview

The SHARE Project was first launched in March 2012 (led by ICMC Europe) and it started its 3rd phase in February 2018

 9 partners in 8 EU countries  Pre-departure cultural orientation: new tools  Peer-to-peer exchange and mutual learning focusing on:

• Building new partnerships for welcome and integration in

medium-smaller municipalities (<200,000 inhabitants)

• Mainstreaming of special needs of refugees

 Working Group on Private Sponsorship (including Caritas organisations in Belgium, France, Italy, UK) PUBLICATION: Fostering Community Sponsosrships across Europe

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

The SHARE Network and Legal Pathways to Europe:

multi level governance cooperation

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

The SHARE Network and EU Resettlement The SHARE Network and EU Resettlement

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Working definition of Private/Community-based Sponsorship Working definition of Private/Community-based Sponsorship

A public-private partnership between governments who facilitate legal admission for refugees and private actors who provide financial, social and/or emotional support to receive and settle refugees into the community.

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Benefits of Community-based Sponsorship Programmes Benefits of Community-based Sponsorship Programmes

• Expands number of admission places

available for people in need of protection.

• Facilitates legal admissions for groups

which otherwise do not have access to it.

• Increased

engagement/networks can create better integration outcomes

• Maintain public and political support for

refugees and other newcomers

• Creates support structures in smaller

communities - that still lack integration support structure.

• Offers different ways to mobilise finance

and in-kind resources

Courtesy of Consorzio Communitas (2015)

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Sponsorship in Europe: Facts & Figures Sponsorship in Europe: Facts & Figures

Type of sponsorship programme Countries Dates Approximate number of persons sponsored to date Family-reunification based sponsorship Germany, France, Ireland 2013-present 30,000+ Resettlement-based community sponsorship UK, Germany, Ireland, Basque Countries 2016-present 215 Humanitarian Corridors Italy, France, Belgium 2016-present 2,500

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Private Sponsorship Pilot Programmes in Europe Private Sponsorship Pilot Programmes in Europe

Full Community Sponsorship Humanitarian Corridors Pilots Extended family members reunification

°United Kingdom

• undefined quota
• Until 2019 within

resettlement commitment (20,000)

• as of 2020 additional
• Germany

2019: 500 (from Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan an Lebanon)

• Ireland

2019: 50 from Lebanon

• Spain (Basque

Country) 2019: 30 from Jordan

• Germany

Regional Admission Programme (Since July 2013: 23,000)

• Ireland (ad hoc)

SHAP (119 Syrians in 2014)

• Italy (EU Visa Code)

2015: 1st protocol (1,000 from Lebanon) 2017: 2nd protocol (500 from Ethiopia) 2017: 3rd protocol (1,000 from Lebanon Morocco) 2019 4th protocol (600 from Ethiopia, Niger and Jordan

• France (Asylum Visa)

14th March 2017 (500 from Lebanon)

• Belgium (Humanitarian Visa)

22 November 2017 (150 from Turkey and Lebanon)

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Main characteristics Main characteristics

Resettlement-based community sponsorship

Procedure like resettlement Refugees identified by UNHCR , selected by government Private actors assume responsibility for financial, social and emotional support for a specific time-period

Detailed requirements for sponsors Humanitarian Corridor

• Humanitarian Visas
• Framework: MoU with faith

based organisations

• The individual

sponsor/sponsoring

• rganisation can identifyi and

choose the person they would like to support (so-called ‘naming’). Flexibility in terms of duration and tasks of sponsors

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Key features of Private Sponsorship Programmes Key features of Private Sponsorship Programmes

• Private sponsorship programme (PSP):
• expand legal access possibilities
• are additional to government resettlement quotas and,
• as is the case with resettlement, provide refugees with a secure status
• The individual sponsor/sponsoring organisation has the option of identifying

and choosing the person they would like to support (so-called ‘naming’).

• ;

Blended models exist in which roles and responsibilities between public and private actors and UNHCR are defined differently. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach. It highly depends on the national contexts and on negotiations between private actors and the governments

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Who sponsors in Europe? Who sponsors in Europe?

‘’Open’’ system with accredited sponsors ‘’Closed’’ system with sponsors pre-selected by the government Structuring sponsorship at the community level

Ensure links with service providers, schools, churches, mosques, universities (in close cooperation with local government- approval???) Example: UK Criteria: objective criteria for prospective sponsors:

• Lead sponsor has to be a registered charity;
• Application submitted to the government;
• Resources (minimum threshold);

Base: Regulation Examples: Italy and France Criteria: experience in the refugee protection and integration field Base: Memorandum of Understanding

Introducing national coordination frameworks to ensure quality sponsorships

To support (new) sponsors and provide training and networking opportunities Lead sponsors- community groups of volunteers

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Sharing responsibilities between public and private actors Sharing responsibilities between public and private actors

• Pre-departure costs

(CO, travel, medical checks, cost for visa)

• Housing !
• Other settlement

support

(Welcome, language learning, accessing medical and social services, support towards employment, etc)

• Duration
• Access to social benefits

(including housing benefits) during limited period

• Safety net
• Status

(refugee, temporary, humanitarian status)

• Access to rights
• Education
• Healthcare
• Employment

Asylum Aquis (EU) Rights beneficiaries of international protection

Government:

Variable (open to negotiation):

Private actors:

Numbers of different “financial engineering” opportunities

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Conclusion and Lessons Learned Conclusion and Lessons Learned

• Working towards a common definition of private sponsorship
• Complementarity among different legal pathways
• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities
• Additionality to existing resettlement commitments
• Secure solutions: Long-term outlook
• Addressing risks: safety-nets
• Ensuring quality and sustainability: planning frameworks,

stakeholder coordination, monitoring and evaluation

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Recommendations for Sustainable Sponsorship Programmes in the Future Recommendations for Sustainable Sponsorship Programmes in the Future

• Objectives and targets
• Clear and transparent objectives and targets should be defined
• Sponsorship = a legal pathway and a way of integrating newcomers
• Partnership frameworks between government and civil society
• Develop open and transparent frameworks to allow sponsorship to flourish
• Who can be sponsored
• Vulnerable refugees and family-linked cases
• Different nationalites
• Access to public & private settlement support
• Sponsored refugees should enjoy equal rights and entitlements as other refugees, and they should be
• ffered a secure and durable legal status
• Monitoring & Evaluation
• Civil society and government must work together to ensure that safeguarding mechanisms exist and that

sponsorships meet minimum standards

The International Catholic Migration Commission serves and protects uprooted people: refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, regardless of faith, race ethnicity or nationality.

Thank you!

http://www.resettlement.eu/page/welcome-share-network ICMC Europe tel: +32 2 227 97 29 Petra HUECK, hueck@icmc.net

Co-financed by the European Commission