Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Integration of women, mothers and families with a migrant background in the EU Member States and target language levels for integration’

(exploratory opinion)

(2021/C 10/01)

Rapporteurs: Indrė VAREIKYTĖ Ákos TOPOLÁNSZKY

Request by the German Presidency of the Council Letter of 18.2.2020 Legal basis Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Section responsible Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship Adopted in section 9.9.2020 Adopted at plenary 29.10.2020 Plenary session No 555 Outcome of vote (for/against/abstentions) 234/4/14

1. Conclusions and recommendations

1.1. The EESC notes, that: — national migrant integration action plans and strategies differ widely across the EU in terms of their guiding principles, measures and their level of monitoring and evaluation, — there is little evidence across all Member States of action plans and strategies with a particular focus on women or gender issues, while ethnic minority women with migrant backgrounds, as well as women of different age groups, face multiple or intersectional discrimination in many areas of life, — fewer than half of EU Member States have action plans or strategies that explicitly address descendants of migrants, even when statistical evidence from Eurostat and international organisations highlights their disadvantaged position, — effective integration has a number of potential economic, social and fiscal benefits for the countries where migrants settle, yet the sum of adequate actions both at the EU and national level is low compared with the complexity of the challenges.

1.2. The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately affected vulnerable communities, especially ethnic minority migrants and migrant women in particular. The EESC therefore strongly encourages the Commission, in developing its new Initiative on Integration and Inclusion, to take into account the lessons learnt from this crisis and showcase the best approaches taken within the Member States.

1.3. The EESC believes in a holistic approach in tackling the migration challenges. The Initiative should therefore encompass policies on fundamental rights, social and labour inclusion, education, culture, justice and health.

1.4. The EESC calls for the Commission to develop better and more efficient communication and coordination with the Member States, their national, regional and local authorities and civil society organisations in shaping holistic integration policies.

1.5. The EESC once again condemns all forms of violence against women and encourages Member States that have not yet ratified the Istanbul Convention to reconsider their position and calls for all Member States to ensure female migrant victims of violence have equal access with indigenous women to appropriate services, support and facilities.

1.6. The EESC once again encourages the establishment of better systems for assessing educational credentials and providing gender-specific support programmes that can facilitate migrant women’s entry into the labour market.

1.7. The EESC calls for urgent actions to ensure an integrated approach that aims at harmonising the multilevel governance of social and employment policies affecting domestic work across the EU.

1.8. It is necessary to develop more systematic outreach and awareness-raising activities to make sure migrant people and refugees are aware of their rights and duties, and to build their trust in — and increase the capacity of — administrations and public authorities to protect them.

1.9. The EESC calls for common EU guidelines for language training to ensure a unified and holistic approach, by not only reflecting the differing needs and levels of learners, but also qualification requirements for teachers.

1.10. The EESC believes that language training should include guiding, informing and explaining the objectives and benefits of language training for their life, thereby encouraging migrants themselves to be more active in the process.

1.11. The EESC believes that it would be beneficial to further investigate whether the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages could be used to streamline the migrant language training process and ensure a more tailor-made approach.

1.12. The EESC stresses the necessity to improve the collection of adequate and comparable sex-disaggregated migration and integration data at EU, national and, especially, local level.

2. Subject of the exploratory opinion

2.1. The German presidency of the Council of the European Union has requested the EESC to discuss in an exploratory opinion the specific measures provided for in the Member States for the integration of women, mothers and families with a migrant background, and the language course models used in Member States at the beginning of the integration process for refugees and other migrants and the target language levels set by these courses.

3. Situation analysis (1)

3.1. National migrant integration action plans and strategies differ widely across the EU in terms of their guiding principles, measures and monitoring and evaluation. These variations reflect national specificities, administrative traditions and migration histories. These diverse approaches are discussed in the European Integration Network. However, national differences remain in implementing the Council of the European Union’s Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy in the EU and other relevant policy documents. It is important to note that in some Member States integration policies are implemented by the regional and/or local authorities, thus increasing even more the differences in implementing this guidance.

3.2. Across all Member States there is little evidence of action plans and strategies with a particular focus on women or gender issues and there are indications that women with migrant backgrounds, including minority ethnic and black women in particular, face multiple or intersectional discrimination in many areas of social life, including employment and education, and particularly face barriers in accessing healthcare services ( 2 )

3.3. Fewer than half of EU Member States have action plans or strategies that explicitly address descendants of migrants, even when statistical evidence highlights their disadvantaged position. Lack of social inclusion risks the potential alienation of young people of migrant descent, with consequences for social cohesion, intolerance, discrimination and the rise of crime, as well as increasing the vulnerability of young migrants to disinformation and extremist movements.

3.4. Outreach to migrant parents is an established and systematic policy only in a handful of Member States. Such policies range from involving and engaging migrant and refugee parents and families in the life of schools and informing and raising awareness about the education of their children to supporting them in learning the Member State’s national language and enabling them to assist and support their children in the education process.

3.5. Evidence provided by national-level research and studies within the Member States indicates segregation of migrant children at school. Moreover, even when the residential concentration is not high, some schools, particularly primary schools, tend to be more segregated than the neighbourhoods they serve.

3.6. The number of migrant children under the age of 18 with no legal guardian is continuously increasing — Europe receives 74 % of asylum-seeking unaccompanied minors. After a traumatic migration journey, often marked by violence, these children and adolescents continue to be exposed to multiple dangers and are particularly vulnerable to criminal networks: under-age recruitment, child trafficking for prostitution, sexual exploitation and child labour ( 3 )

3.7. Data collection by the Equality Bodies in the Member States is usually limited to cases of discrimination on grounds of racial/ethnic origin. Little or no data exist in most EU Member States on discrimination-related complaints submitted by third-country nationals on grounds other than ethnic or racial origin ( 4 ) . The actual number of complaints submitted by third-country nationals to Equality Bodies is very small compared with the experiences and incidents of perceived discrimination and victimisation as recorded by surveys. Underreporting ( 5 ) is a serious concern and can be linked to a lack of rights awareness and to mistrust of the authorities, especially among migrant women and children.

4. Improving integration

4.1. The EESC underlines the fact that integration is a dynamic, long-term, and continuous two-way process involving both migrants and the receiving society. It is a challenge that the Union has committed itself to tackling, and effective integration has a number of potential economic, social and fiscal benefits for the countries where migrants settle, yet the sum of adequate actions both at EU and national level is low compared with the complexity of the challenge.

4.2. take into account the lessons learnt from this crisis and showcase the best approaches taken within the Member States. In light of this crisis, the EESC also urges the Member States to provide free training on the use of digital devices, document management, looking for work and remote working and provide access to crisis support and legal advice for people with economic difficulties and/or at risk of social exclusion The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately affected vulnerable communities, especially migrants and migrant women in particular ( 6 ) . The impact includes physical and mental health, as well as economic consequences, possible increase in discrimination and racism, and the impact of physical school closures on migrant children and their parents. The EESC therefore strongly encourages the Commission, in developing its new Initiative on Integration and Inclusion, totaken within the Member States. In light of this crisis, the EESC also urges the Member States to provide free training on the use of digital devices, document management, looking for work and remote working and provide access to crisis support and legal advice for people with economic difficulties and/or at risk of social exclusion ( 7 )

4.3. The EESC believes in a holistic approach in tackling the migration challenges. The future Initiative should therefore encompass policies on fundamental rights, social and labour inclusion, education, culture, justice, health and housing.

4.4. ensure migrant female victims of violence equal access with native-born women to appropriate services, support and facilities . Immigrant victims of domestic violence should be able to confidentially apply for legal immigration status independently of the perpetrator The EESC once again condemns all forms of violence against women and encourages Member States that have not yet ratified the Istanbul Convention to reconsider their position ( 8 ) and calls for all Member States to. Immigrant victims of domestic violence should be able to confidentially apply for legal immigration status independently of the perpetrator ( 9 )

4.5. establishment of better systems for assessing educational credentials and providing gender-specific support programmes that can facilitate women’s entry into the labour market (such as early childhood education and care) to begin addressing these issues Migrant women are often overqualified for available jobs, are unemployed and face deskilling ( 10 ) . The EESC once again encourages theandthat can facilitate women’s entry into the labour market (such as early childhood education and care) to begin addressing these issues ( 11 )

4.6. The Committee stresses that migrant women are not a homogeneous group, especially in terms of skills and qualifications ( 12 ) ; they are more likely to be under and/or over-qualified for their job and less likely to be in employment ( 13 ) . Therefore, integration measures, active labour market policies and programmes and social economy projects should include language courses, skills assessment and vocational training ( 14 )

4.7. harmonising the multilevel governance of social and employment policies affecting domestic work across the EU while considering the intersections of care, employment and migration policies, and how they affect the labour market integration and living conditions of migrant domestic workers. Migrant domestic workers have become a major pillar of welfare systems, especially in the field of long-term care for the elderly, and migrant women in the domestic work sector are most often negatively affected ( 15 ) . This sector still has total or partial irregularity of employment, and low wage levels; domestic workers have a lower level of labour and/or legal protection against unemployment, professional injuries or disability, as well as in cases of maternity, and often suffer from social isolation and exclusion, especially in the case of live-in employment ( 16 ) . The EESC calls for urgent action to ensure an integrated approach that aims atacross the EU while considering the intersections of care, employment and migration policies, and how they affect the labour market integration and living conditions of migrant domestic workers.

4.8. The EESC draws attention to the fact that migrant women are often forced to live in isolation and become vulnerable victims of loneliness and violence. At the same time, if they work, they are often overworked and additionally have to bear all caring tasks in the household. As such issues are addressed by gender equality policies, measures and tools, it is crucial to guarantee migrant women’s equal access to such tools and to ensure that they are being empowered no less than native-born women. It is also necessary to develop more systematic outreach and awareness-raising activities to make sure migrant people and refugees are aware of their rights and duties, and to build their trust in — and increase the capacities of — administrations and public authorities to protect them.

4.9. The EESC believes that in the context of migration and integration, gender equality plays an equally important role as for the rest of European society, as it encompasses a set of fundamental rights (i.e. tolerance, equality, freedoms of expression, views and religion, etc.) which can be culturally unfamiliar to refugees and other migrants coming from completely different cultures and backgrounds. It should therefore become one of the key pillars for integration through holistically tailored policies, integration models and actions.

4.10. The EESC notes that the involvement of migrant families and parents in local and school communities should begin during the early stages of reception, to avoid marginalisation and consequent alienation of children and young people of migrant background. Such support can benefit early native language acquisition.

4.11. The EESC therefore calls for the Commission to develop better and more efficient communication and coordination with the Member States, their national, regional and local authorities and civil society organisations in shaping holistic integration policies, as well as in publishing comparative reports on their implementation and in actively promoting the sharing of good practices. At the same time, it is up to the EU institutions to uphold European values and enforce the applicable legislation in cases when Member States do not comply with human rights laws, apply inhumane treatment to migrants and/or discriminate against them.

4.12. The EESC calls on the Commission to set up a range of measures and tools to support Member States and their national and local authorities, as well as social partners, NGOs and individual initiatives in tackling hostility against migrants and migration in general and disinformation campaigns against migration, by showcasing the benefits and potential migrants bring to our societies.

4.13. The EESC stresses the necessity to ensure the collection of adequate and comparable migration data at EU, national and, especially, local level, including, but not limited to, data disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity and migration status, duration of employment, salary scale and progress in career, in order to ensure adequate evidence-based policy-making.

5. Language training

5.1. The EESC believes, that language training should not be a goal on its own — combining language training with cultural exploration and community and societal involvement would ensure a more successful integration process.

5.2. Unfortunately, only a few Member States follow a needs-based approach to language learning by opening courses to all residents with limited language proficiency. Several Member States provide access to such courses only for beneficiaries of humanitarian protection. Language-learning programmes are rarely linked to employment, and job-specific, on-the-job and higher level language training courses are rare. In others, migrants need to pay for the courses in advance and are only reimbursed if they pass the final exams. Moreover, great disparities exist not only in the approach and the quality of language teaching, but also in the commitment of migrants themselves ( 17 )

5.3. The EESC therefore believes that it is important to have common EU guidelines for language training to ensure a unified and holistic approach, by not only reflecting the differing needs and levels of learners, but also qualification requirements for teachers.

5.4. In addition, women with care responsibilities find it especially difficult to access language courses because of their schedule and conditions (costs/location) ( 18 ) . It is crucial to note that women migrants in particular should receive additional attention due to particularly wide gaps in language education because of limitations for women to access general education in some countries of origin. For instance, migrant women should be offered childcare while they are attending the language classes, and their young children could attend language and play classes, which have proven very effective both for language learning and integration purposes.

5.5. The EESC believes that it is also up to migrants to decide for themselves and for their families and children which of the language learning strategies are best suited to their goals in life. The fact that migrants may wish to choose among the various types of adaptation implies that arrangements need to be made for listening to migrants’ views and for designing and managing tailor-made courses. It is crucial that language training should include guiding, informing and explaining the objectives and benefits of language training for their life, thereby encouraging migrants themselves to be more active and engaged in the process.

5.6. The EESC believes that it would be beneficial to further investigate whether the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages could be used to streamline the migrant language training process and ensure a more tailor-made approach, as it might not only alleviate the organising process, but also set clear expectations for learners.

5.7. The EESC highlights the fact that interpreters have a major impact on an individual’s migration and integration services and outcomes. However, the qualification of interpreters does not necessarily correspond to the migrants’ needs, often placing women in a disadvantaged position. Interpreter training should therefore be streamlined and lead to a European level certification. Collaboration with universities across the EU that offer study programmes in Public Service Interpreting should be established.

5.8. The EESC believes that language skills, employment and the quality of that employment are interrelated and that therefore the better the language skills, the more likely it is that a newcomer will have access to good jobs and education opportunities and better integrate into society in general. The benefits from learning the language of the receiving community are many: from more and better access to the labour market, to recognition of belonging from the rest of the community and a feeling of belonging for the migrants themselves. The most important aspects to language learning are thus: using high quality instruction to deliver, making it accessible and making it convenient and tailor-made. Learning from the experiences during the COVID-19 crisis, there should be more investment in digital tools in order to allow migrants to attend classes online.

Brussels, 29 October 2020. The President of the European Economic and Social Committee Christa SCHWENG

(1) More at: https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/feature/what-measures-are-in-place-to-ensure-the-long-term-integration-of-migrants-and-refugees-in-europe

(2) Together in the EU — Promoting the participation of migrants and their descendants, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2017.

(3) Opinion SOC/634 — The protection of unaccompanied migrant minors in Europe, EESC (scheduled for the plenary session on 16-17-18 September 2020).

(4) Links between migration and discrimination — A legal analysis of the situation in EU Member States, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, European Commission DG for Justice and Consumers, 2016.

(5) Being Black in the EU — Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2018.

(6) The European web site for integration continuously tracks the impact of COVID-19 on migrant communities in a number of key integration areas across the EU.

(7) Manifesto on Digital Inclusion, European Network of Migrant Women, 16 June 2020.

(8) OJ C 240, 16.7.2019, p. 3.

(9) Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women, DEW/DESA, United Nations, 2009.

(10) Harnessing Knowledge on the Migration of Highly Skilled Women, International Organization for Migration, 2014.

(11) OJ C 242, 23.7.2015, p. 9.

(12) The New EU Migration Pact in Progress: Recalling Legal Obligations, European Network of Migrant Women, 2020.

(13) European website on Integration, Integration of migrant women, 12/11/2018, https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/feature/integration-of-migrant-women

(14) Point 4.16 of the opinion OJ C 283, 10.8.2018, p. 1.

(15) Out of sight: migrant women exploited in domestic work, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2018.

(16) International migration paper No 115, International Labour Organization, 2013.

(17) https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/201915_early_language_support_wider_dissemination.pdf

(18) Opinion OJ C 242, 23.7.2015, p. 9.