STUDY REPORT ON REFUGEES IN ROMANIA, BELGIUM, GERMANY, SPAIN, SWEDEN

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The number of people seeking refugee status in Europe has soared over recent years. The refugees live year after year with little hope of ever returning home. Some cannot because their countries are engulfed by endless conflict or because they fear persecution if they were to return.
For the majority of refugees in Europe, integration is the most durable solution, but it is a complex and gradual process with legal, economic, social and cultural dimensions. It imposes considerable demands on both the individual and the receiving society.
Despite the difficulties and challenges, effective integration of the refugees needs to be pursued as a key component of a successful refugee protection regime. This may require that the governments devote higher level of resources, better integration programs that respond to refugees needs.
Comprehensive integration concepts need to be developed in a timely manner and in the framework of the subsidiarity principle at European, national, local level, targeting all integration aspects. It is important that the EU laws transposed by the member states and the EU Programs are fully utilized.
Integration policy which complements a protection status in the EU and which allows all newcomers, including refugees, to become economically productive leads to self-reliance, dignity, and social interaction and is beneficial to individuals and the receiving society. A society with large under-productive segments will not only be economically divided, but also socially and often geographically segregated. Getting integration right is therefore key to both a successful Europe and to an effective

The aim of the study is to highlight the existing programs, gaps and develop a set of recommendations which can underpin future strategies in relation to integration policies, programs.
The study had been elaborated as part of the transnational project Enhance professionals’ knowledge for a sustainable refugees’ integration, financed by the Erasmus Program Strategic Partnerships, VET Action. The project is coordinated by the Romanian organization Association Pro Refugiu, in partnership with Caritas International Belgium, Passage gGmbH Germany, Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers Sweden and Trabe Iniciativas para la Economia Social y Solidaria Spain. For the elaboration of the study report several methods were used to collect data, such as desk research (analyze legislation, national strategies, previous studies/publications etc), interviews with stakeholders (institutions and NGOs), interviews with refugees. It present relevant information on different types of programs (education & vocational training, labor, social, health, legal) and a set of recommendations based on each country profile.