EZINE Issue 1 – Spring 2012

 

This issue

1. Welcome
2. Update on the Review of the EU Family Reunion Directive
3. Focus on Family Reunification Project Partner Organisation: the Immigrant Council of Ireland
4. Report on First Meeting of the Family Reunification Project
5. Report on Second Meeting of the Family Reunification Project
6. Contribute to the Family Reunification Project ezine!
7. Help Spread the Word about the Family Reunification Project!

Welcome

Welcome to the first ezine for the Family Reunification Project.

The aim of the Family Reunification Project is to explore the policies and legislation regarding family reunification in various EU member states – with particular questions around whether family reunification is a tool for the integration of immigrants and their families, or a barrier.

This project is funded under the Integration Fund Community Actions Programme, an EU funding programme aimed at promoting the integration in EU member states of people who are not citizens of the EU.

There are organisations from seven EU member states taking part in the Family Reunification Project, namely: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.  The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) is the lead project partner.  To find out more about the seven partner organisations, please click here.

The Family Reunification Project commenced in October 2011, when the ICI co-hosted the first meeting[MQ1]  of project partners with the AIRE (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) Centre in London.  It will run for 18 months.

The second meeting of the Family Reunification Project took place in The Netherlands on 19th and 20th January 2012.  A report on the meeting is included in this eZine .

Over the course of the project, additional updates from meetings involving the seven partner organisations will be published in this ezine, along with occasional feature articles from representatives from each of the partner groups.  Each issue of the ezine will also include a focus on one – or more – of the partner organisations and a summary of their work on family reunification.

In this issue, we look at the work of the Immigrant Council of Ireland.  We also provide an update on the review of the EU Family Reunion Directive; summaries of the two meetings of project partners held to date; and links to resources for those interested in family reunification issues within the EU.

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Update on the Review of the EU Family Reunion Directive

In November 2011, the European Commission published a Green Paper on the EU Family Reunion Directive 2003/86/EC.  This Directive recognises that facilitating family reunion facilitates immigrant integration and societal cohesion.

While the average EU country goes beyond the Directive’s minimum standards in terms of facilitating family reunion, a 2008 Application Report by the European Commission identified key national weaknesses in transposition, including vague provisions in the Directive’s text and incorrect transposition in member states.  These problems can be – and some have been – addressed by national and EU courts.  To date, two European Court of Justice judgments on family reunion have reinforced the Directive’s overall objectives that member states’ policies must respect the right to family life, the right to family reunification, equal treatment and the general principles of EU law.

The Green Paper recently published by the European Commission presents stakeholders with a clear choice: either the Commission opens infringement proceedings for improper transposition based on the current Directive, or it reopens negotiations to change the Directive.  The Commission will choose between the two options – infringement or renegotiation – after it reviews which and how member states and other stakeholders respond to this Green Paper.

All interested parties are invited to send their responses to the consultation on the Green Paper in writing by 1st March 2012 to:

Immigration and Integration Unit – ‘Green Paper on Family Reunification’
Directorate General Home Affairs
European Commission
B-1049 Brussels

 

Email: HOME-family-reunification-green-paper@ec.europa.eu

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Focus on Family Reunification Project Partner Organisation: the Immigrant Council of Ireland

Since the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) first opened in 2001, it has taken enquiries from migrants and Irish citizens about how they and their family members can overcome obstacles to living together in Ireland.  In fact, enquiries about family reunification and family unity have consistently been among the top 10 types of enquiry dealt with by the ICI’s Information and Referral Service and its Legal Service.

The absence of coherent legislation, in conjunction with policies and procedures that are governed predominantly by ministerial discretion, has resulted in this area becoming one of the most difficult to navigate within Ireland’s immigration system.

The ICI’s family reunification and family unity campaign has encompassed advising and assisting service-users; formally representing clients in their interactions with the Department of Justice and Equality, in some cases leading to representation at High Court level; producing research pieces and accessible information resources for migrants; and building the capacity of other organisations to advise their clients on the issues.

In 2006, the ICI published a seminal piece of research on family reunification: ‘Family Matters: Experiences of Family Reunification in Ireland’.  This publication provided a critical analysis of the Irish Government’s policies and procedures in relation to family reunification.

The ICI also takes part in the European-wide consultation on the rights to family reunification for third-country nationals though its membership of the European Network of Migrant Women (ENoMW).  Nusha Yonkova, Anti-Trafficking Coordinator at the ICI, is the spokesperson for ENoMW on the issue of family reunification, due to the ICI’s long-term expertise and interest in this area.

The ENoMW – in cooperation with the European Women’s Lobby and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development – hosted a briefing in the European Parliament in November 2011 about the ongoing consultation on the European Commission’s Green Paper on the EU Family Reunion Directive 2003/86/EC.  The ENoMW has declared its intention to actively participate in the upcoming consultation.

A lobbying toolkit and three short video clips highlighting various aspects of the family reunification challenge and its effect on migrant women have been produced by the ENoMW and the European Women’s Lobby, with EPIM funding.  The ICI provided advice and coordination on the film-making process.  The video clips were launched on 13th January 2012, and are available to view here.  They tell the stories of three migrant women – Liz, Saheli and Claudia – and highlight the main challenges that migrant women face due to the lack of gender sensitivity in migration policies, in particular family reunification policies.

As a result of its involvement in the ENoMW and its ongoing work on family reunification and related issues, the Immigrant Council of Ireland decided to develop a funding proposal for the Family Reunification Project during 2011.  The ICI was delighted to be awarded funding for this project under the Integration Fund Community Actions Programme, and is honoured to be working with such high-calibre organisations with the aim of progressing research on this issue across other EU member states.

The ICI used the occasion of the second meeting of the Family Reunification Project in January 2012 to highlight how Ireland – according to the MIPEX index – has the least favourable family reunification policies of any country in the EU.  Speaking at the meeting, Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of the ICI, said: “We experienced high levels of immigration in Ireland in the past, but – without effective family reunification policies – we are unlikely to achieve effective integration over the coming years.

“Unlike other EU member states, Ireland has no national rules regarding family reunification enshrined in primary legislation.  In addition, the Government opted out of the EC Directive on the right to family reunification so, generally, decisions currently taken in this area are based purely on the discretion of the Minister for Justice.  The wide discretion granted to the Minister has led to inconsistencies and a lack of transparency in the decision-making process, and this anomaly must be addressed.”

On the same occasion, Ms. Charlton said the ICI’s involvement in the Family Reunification Project is very timely.  “At a domestic level, we have been working with the Irish Government and all relevant stakeholders for the past three years to inform the drafting of a new Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill – which is due to come before the Irish Parliament in the coming months – and we believe family reunification provisions should be included in this.

“And at European level, the consultation is currently underway on the Green Paper published by the European Commission last November on the EC family reunification Directive.  The ICI intends to contribute to this consultation process over the coming months.  We will use it as an opportunity to highlight to the Irish Government the importance of opting in to the EC Directive and implementing more clear-cut family reunification policies, which would bring us into line with minimum best-practice standards throughout the EU.”

Further information on the ICI’s work on family reunification is available here.

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Report on First Meeting of the Family Reunification Project

The first meeting of the Family Reunification Project took place in the UK on 17th and 18th October 2011.  It was co-hosted by the AIRE (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) Centre in London and the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI).

The meeting was attended by representatives of the AIRE Centre and the ICI, as well as representatives of the following partner organisations:

A number of guests invited by the AIRE Centre also attended the meeting, namely: representatives of the UK Home Office; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; the Children’s Legal Centre; and Wesley Gryk Solicitors.

At the meeting, attendees received an overview of the Family Reunification Project from the ICI.  The partner organisations then delivered individual presentations on the impact of family migration policy, practice and legislation in their countries on the integration of third-country nationals.  These presentations showed that the UK, Austria, The Netherlands and Germany have similar – and restrictive – approaches to family migration and integration, with the governments of these different countries often adopting each others’ policies.  Bulgaria and Portugal – which are newer to developing immigration policy – have very different approaches to family migration, with Portugal appearing to have the most progressive, inclusive approach from amongst the countries represented in this project.  (These presentations will be available on the www.familyreunification.eu website in due course.)

In addition to the presentations, the meeting discussed definitions of ‘integration’ and of ‘migrant’.  Proposed definitions for both terms are being developed by the Centre for Migration Law – on behalf of the project overall – and will be circulated to all partner organisations for review.

The scope of the research to be conducted under the Family Reunification Project was also discussed at this meeting, as were the best methods for evaluating the success of the project.  Geraldine Hegarty, Financial Officer with the Immigrant Council of Ireland, delivered a presentation on project management and financial management, and the ICI also led a discussion on the communications strategy for the project.

The agenda and other materials from this meeting are available at:

http://familyreunification.eu/index.php/resources/.

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Report on Second Meeting of the Family Reunification Project

The second meeting of the Family Reunification Project took place at the Centre for Migration Law in Nijmegen in The Netherlands on 19th and 20th January 2012.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the following partner organisations:

A number of invited guests also attended the meeting, namely representatives of the Centre for Migration Law, the European Commission, Defence for Children, the Dutch Council for Refugees, the Ministry of the Interior in The Netherlands, Regioplan and Gart Adang, an attorney specialising in migration law.

At the meeting, attendees discussed how to measure integration and the research methodology to be used by the Family Reunification Project.  Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of the ICI, also gave an input on the management of the Project and its communications strategy.

The format for the Family Reunification Project’s research publication was agreed, and the Zoom Institute in Goettingen, Germany, was chosen to conduct the external evaluation of the Project.

The date for the next meeting of the Family Reunification Project was set.  It will take place on 10th and 11th May in Vienna, Austria, and will be hosted by the ICMPD team.  At this next meeting, initial research findings will be presented.

The agenda and other materials from the second meeting of the Family Reunification Project are available at: http://familyreunification.eu/index.php/resources/.

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Contribute to the Family Reunification Project ezine!

Over the course of the project, four issues of this ezine will be produced and disseminated to project partners and other stakeholders with an interest in family reunification.  If you would like to contribute an article to a forthcoming issue of the ezine, please email info@familyreunification.eu with an outline of your proposed article and your contact details.  We welcome contributions, in particular, from the project partners.

Help Spread the Word about the Family Reunification Project!

The Family Reunification Project is now truly up and running, with our first meeting having taken place in October 2011 and our second meeting on 19th and 20th January 2012.  We have just launched a website, www.familyreunification.eu, which will serve as a repository for information about the project and about the different organisations that are involved.

Please help us spread the word about the Family Reunification Project.  You can do this in the following ways:

  • Encourage your colleagues and other relevant stakeholder organisations to subscribe to this ezine.
  • Share a link to www.familyreunification.eu on your organisation’s website.
  • Promote your involvement in this project on your organisation’s social media profiles.

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Useful Resources

There are a range of useful resources available on the Family Reunification Project’s website: http://familyreunification.eu/index.php/resources/.

Contact the Family Reunification Project

We welcome your feedback on this ezine and on the Family Reunification Project overall.  To give us feedback, or to find out more about the project, visit: www.familyreunification.eu.

If you wish to contact us by post, telephone or email, the details are as follows

Family Reunification Project
c/o Immigrant Council of Ireland,
2 Andrew Street,
Dublin 2,
IRELAND

Tel: +353 1 674 0202

Email: info@familyreunification.eu

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Family Reunification for Irish Citizens?

Hilkka Becker, Senior Solicitor at the Immigrant Council of Ireland examines the issues pertaining to family reunification in the latest edition of the Parchment Parchment...

 

Family Reunification Transnational Report

The final version of the Family Reunification Transnational Report has been published and is now available to view here. The report examines the family reunification...

 

Family Reunification seminar – Portugal

A Family Reunification seminar will take place on the 1st of March in Lisbon. Information on the seminar can be viewed here