Rae study advocacy

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Integration Subject to Conditions A report on the situation of Kosovan Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children in Germany and after their repatriation to Kosovo UNICEF Kosovo and the German Committee for UNICEF. Pristina, 2010. Copyright: Thomas Rommel

Transcript of Rae study advocacy

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Integration Subject to ConditionsA report on the situation of Kosovan Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children in

Germany and after their repatriation to Kosovo

UNICEF Kosovo and the German Committee for UNICEF. Pristina, 2010.

Copyright: Thomas Rommel

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1. BACKGROUND

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Background: Why this study?• Debates on recent readmission

agreements between Western European countries and Kosovo

• A significant number of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians are obliged to leave Germany

• Toleration/‘Duldung’: many since 1991/1992 in Germany

• Children are the most affected: of 5,000 children obliged to leave in June 2009, estimated 3,000 born in Germany

Copyright: Thomas Rommel

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• Rapid increase in minority returns

• RAE constituted 33% of all repatriated persons from Germany in 2010, only one in five return voluntary

• 2010: 32% of deported were children, 54% born in Germany

• Repatriation practices fail to

Background: Why now?

Copyright: Verena Knaus

provide for a return in safety and dignity• Children are the most affected

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The situation in Germany

“Imagine it – you live here for 20 years. You don’t know any other country any more. For us, Germany is our country.”

A young Roma from Stuttgart

Copyright: Thomas Rommel

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The situation in Kosovo

“Kosovo is under political pressure to accept these agreements, without having in place the budget or the capacity to receive these families in dignity and security.”

Thomas HammarbergFact-finding visit to Kosovo,

March 2009

Copyright: UNICEF Kosovo

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‘Kosovo’s local authorities fall short of fulfilling their obligations to support the reintegration of persons repatriated to Kosovo from host countries’

‘Concrete measures to facilitate the reintegration of repatriated persons in the key areas of health, education, employment and housing are still lacking’

Reintegration Strategy & Action Plan: insufficient budget lines on central and municipal levels

OSCE Mission in Kosovo, 2009

The situation in Kosovo Reality check

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The situation in Kosovo Kosovo: Out of sight, out of mind

‘ Every night I cry and I want to go back. All of us cry everynight, believe me. The only thing I would like in my life is to go back to Germany and continue my normal life, my school and everything I left there’

Fellona, 14 yearsBorn near Saarbruecken

Family left Gjakova in 19924 children, 1 room house/no bathroom

€ 70/month social assistance

‘My mother tongue is German and my home is Olsberg in Germany. I don’t know why they brought me here’

Sanije, 15 yearsFamily left in 1992, born in Germany in 1995

Sick mother (2 heart attacks), live in uncle’s houseNot registered - no social assistance

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Methodology

• Quantitative approach

Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS): Baseline Survey 2009800 respondents (49 returnee families, 162 families with diaspora)

• Qualitative approach

Practitioners, public institutions/officials identified (Kosovo/Germany)40 portraits of returnee families in 19 municipalities (173 individuals, 116 children)

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UNICEF ApproachBringing into the current debate on repatriations the

argument of the ‘best interest of the child’

Convention on the Rights of the Child, Part I, Article 3

‘In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration’

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UNICEF ApproachBringing into the current debate on repatriations the

argument of the ‘best interest of the child’ EU Directive (2008/115/EC)

on ‘Standards and procedures for returning illegally staying third-country nationals’,

Article 22: ‘… the ‘best interests of

the child’ should be a primary consideration of Member States when implementing this Directive’

Copyright: Thomas Rommel

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Kosovo reality: Alarming findings

173 family members:

• 116 children (67%)

• 69 born in Germany (59%)

• 48 not registered (41%)

• 17 attend school (26%)

• Chronic illnesses/trauma

• PovertyCopyright: UNICEF Kosovo

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Other reports on repatriation practices published in 2010

Amnesty International – ‘Not welcome anywhere. Stop forced return of Roma to Kosovo’, September 2010.

KFOS – ‘Repatriation without responsibility. The nature and implications of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians forced repatriation to Kosovo’, October 2010.

Human Rights Watch – ‘Rights displaced. Forced returns of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians from Western Europe to Kosovo’, October 2010.

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2. KEY ADVOCACY EFFORTS

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Key Partnerships

• Cooperation with the German NatCom

• Cooperation with the office of the Human Rights Commissioner for the COE, Thomas Hammarberg

• Cooperation with the German Ambassador in Kosovo

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Main results achieved so far:• The German version of the report has been launched at the German Bundestag (lower house of Parliament) in Berlin in July 2010.

• In some of the federal entities in Germany, such as North Rhine-Westphalia, regulations governing the immigration status of RAE from Kosovo have since been changed taking into account the best interests of the children concerned.

• Presentation of the report at the COE Task Force on Roma Education meeting in October 2010.

• Official launch in Kosovo, October 2010.

• Presentation of the report at the Fundamental Rights Conference in Brussels in December 2010.

• Presentation of the report at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in Nuremberg in March 2011.

• Meetings with delegations – Both a mission from the EU Parliament and that of the deputy of the Bundestag explicitly asked to have UNICEF on their agenda.

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Lessons learned

Copyright: UNICEF Kosovo

• This experience shows how fundamental primary knowledge can support and reinforce our advocacy efforts.

• We should not refrain from stepping into issues that might have some broader political implications – there have been no negative comments to the study.

• Importance of building partnerships and have concerted advocacy efforts with all key stakeholders.• We should think of ways to better document these kinds of

experiences as lessons learned to be shared with other country offices.

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3. NEXT STEPS

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• Support Kosovo government institutions to improve the implementation and monitoring of the Action Plan for the Integration of RAE communities 2009-2015. • Advocate for the integration of children who have been forcibly repatriated from Western European countries. • Continue to collaborate with a broad spectrum of partners at central and decentralised levels.• Mobilise resources from potential donors, international organisations and European institutions active in Kosovo.

UNICEF Strategic Approach

• Influencing the allocation of international and national resources towards areas of the Kosovo budget that have a positive impact on the fulfilment of child rights.

Copyright: Thomas Rommel

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Copyright: Verena Knaus

UNICEF Strategic Approach

• Creation of an online multi-platform to raise awareness and create community mobilisation around the issue of RAE forced repatriation in Germany (still under discussion).

• The German NatCom is currently working on OneMinutesJr. made by children who are at risk of being forcefully repatriated to Kosovo.

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Copyright: UNICEF Kosovo

Priorities for 2011• UNICEF will continue to ensure that the issue of RAE forced repatriation remains high on the EU agenda.

• Monitoring of current repatriation practices and their impact on returning RAE families and children.

• Conduct a study on the psycho-social impacts of repatriations on children repatriated from Germany, Austria and Switzerland to Kosovo.

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Thank you!

Copyright: UNICEF Kosovo