European Council on Refugees and Exiles

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European Council on Refugees and Exiles
(ECRE)
legal form Non-profit
founding 1974
Seat Brussels, London
main emphasis Protection and integration of refugees
Action space Europe
people Catherine Woollard (General Secretary)
Website www.ecre.org

European Council on Refugees and Exiles ( ECRE ) is a pan-European non-profit organization that brings together 104 non-governmental organizations in 41 countries and seeks to influence the European agenda with regard to an open immigration policy. Its aim is to protect and improve the rights of refugees. To make this possible, they offer legal support and are working on reforming the Common European Asylum System. The four main activities of ECRE also include “advocacy” and “communication” projects.

Members

Members include well-known NGOs such as Amnesty International, Caritas, the Red Cross and the SOS Children's Village. They can be found across Europe, inside and outside the EU. The 104 NGOs have come together to form an umbrella organization, as this allows them to exert more pressure on EU institutions and thus more influence on legislation.

Content

In their Strategic Plan 2017-2019 , they report on the difficult conditions to achieve their goals, as they feel a much more hostile environment in Brussels and the nation states compared to previous years. Nevertheless, they do not want to be dissuaded from their goals. The following points describe what the ECRE wants to achieve from 2017 to 2019: First, the asylum law in Europe is to be reformed so that an EU agreement with joint responsibility can be created. Furthermore, safe and legal routes should lead to Europe and global solutions should be found. Ultimately, the inclusion of refugees in the European community is very important to them. With regard to advocacy work, three topics are of high priority: foreign affairs, rights of refugee children and inclusion / integration.

The ECRE and migration policy

Lobbying groups promoting migrant rights have been active since the early 1990s. The most influential groups in this policy area include human rights organizations such as Amnesty International or the ECRE, as well as church organizations and the like. a. Caritas and the Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME). The first cooperation between the pro-migration interest representatives took place before the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), which resulted in an NGO network for European refugee, asylum and immigration policy. These included Amnesty International, Caritas Europe, CCME, ECRE, the European Migrants Forum (EUMF) and the Starting Line Group (SLG). However, it must be emphasized, wrote Andrew Geddes in 2000, that such associations are relatively small in comparison to consumer interest groups, women's rights lobbyists and environmentalists. For this reason, they often come together to form umbrella organizations to bring national interests together and to represent them together.

With a view to the situation at the borders of Europe during the last few years, which has become an issue from 2015 onwards due to the refugee crisis in Europe , even more organizations have established themselves in Brussels that lobby for human and refugee rights. According to Leila Giannetto from 2019, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, the European Network Against Racism, the CCME and the Migration Policy Group are considered to be important actors in the Brussels scene with regard to migration, anti-racism and asylum.

activities

In 2013, the ECRE launched a website with the “AIDA” database to present asylum procedures in Europe.

Lobbying initiatives taken with the amendment of the Qualification Directive for third country nationals and stateless persons in addition to the ECRE u. a. also the European Women's Lobby, ILGA Europe and many more

The European Council on Refugees also participated in the revision of the minimum standards for the recognition and status of third-country nationals and stateless persons as refugees in 2011. First, the ECRE was invited by the Commission to a “stakeholder meeting” before a proposal was even made public. The ECRE prepared statements on the 2004 regulation in force at the time and, at the request of the Commission, consulted its member organizations, which were supposed to inform themselves about the concerns of the EU member states. Amnesty International, ECRE, EWL and ILGA also joined forces to compile lobbying letters or similar for their national member organizations. In this case, the Commission and Parliament confirmed that they were committed to the NGOs and their expertise and the Commission would use the NGOs as eyes and ears in the member countries to monitor the implementation of the directives.

In 2019 the European Council on Refugees reported (for the 2018 country report) on asylum procedures in Germany. For the report published in April 2019 on the anchor centers introduced as a model in Bavaria / Germany, ECRE worked together with the Pro Asyl group. At that time, anchor centers existed in Bavaria, Saxony and Saarland.

In January 2019, the ECRE proposed negotiations on the distribution of boat refugees and migrants to be landed among European Union states. The umbrella organization reprimanded governments of states that did not allow rescue ships to enter their ports. However, they should be credited with the fact that the current situation is not fair. The European Commission , the UNHCR or the IOM should lead the negotiations and a coalition of "willing" states should agree to an admission and distribution plan, as some of the 28 states did not adhere to their obligations and a unanimous solution with all states was impossible. Earlier plans that provided for the transport of landed refugees and migrants to centers in North Africa, or those in which the people are housed in closed centers in the EU, should be discarded in the opinion of the ECRE. Civil society organizations (including religious organizations) and host cities should be involved.

financing

According to its own information (as of May 2019), the ECRE is financed by private donors and government programs:

In addition, ECRE receives support from the following European programs and agencies:

Other donors mentioned so far include:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Members. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Mission Statement | European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). Retrieved September 23, 2019 (UK English).
  3. ↑ European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) |. Retrieved September 23, 2019 (UK English).
  4. ↑ MEMBERS | European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). Retrieved September 23, 2019 (UK English).
  5. ^ Hoffmann, Ulrike: Lobbying for the Rights of Refugees: An Analysis of the Lobbying Strategies of Pro-migrant Groups on the Qualification Directive and its Recast. In: Journal of Contemporary European Research, 8, No. 1, pp. 21-39. 2012, p. 34 .
  6. ↑ Strategic Plan ECRE. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
  7. ^ Strategic Plan. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
  8. ↑ a b c d Geddes, Andrew: Lobbying for migrant inclusion in the European Union: new opportunities for transnational advocacy ?. In: Journal of European Public Policy, 7, No. 4, pp. 632-649. 2000, p. 638 .
  9. ^ A b Geddes, Andrew: Lobbying for migrant inclusion in the European Union: new opportunities for transnational advocacy ?. In: Journal of European Public Policy, 7, No. 4, pp. 632-649. 2000, p. 639 .
  10. ^ A b Giannetto, Leila: Lobbying EU Agencies from Within: Advocacy Groups in Frontex Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights. In: Dialer, Doris / Richter, Margarethe (Ed.): Lobbying in the European Union. Strategies, Dynamics and Trends, 1st edition. Cham. 2019, p. 165 .
  11. ↑ Grantees - European Council on Refugees and Exiles. Sigrid Rausing Trust, accessed January 31, 2016 .
  12. ^ Hoffmann, Ulrike: Lobbying for the Rights of Refugees: An Analysis of the Lobbying Strategies of Pro-migrant Groups on the Qualification Directive and its Recast. In: Journal of Contemporary European Research. 8, No. 1, pp. 21-39. 2012, p. 23 .
  13. ↑ ECRE upload. Retrieved September 24, 2019 .
  14. ^ Hoffmann, Ulrike: Lobbying for the Rights of Refugees: An Analysis of the Lobbying Strategies of Pro-migrant Groups on the Qualification Directive and its Recast. In: Journal of Contemporary European Research. 8, No. 1, pp. 21-39. 2012, p. 27 .
  15. ^ Hoffmann Ulrike: Lobbying for the Rights of Refugees: An Analysis of the Lobbying Strategies of Pro-migrant Groups on the Qualification Directive and its Recast. In: Journal of Contemporary European Research. 8, No. 1, pp. 21-39. 2012, p. 28 .
  16. ^ Hoffmann, Ulrike: Lobbying for the Rights of Refugees: An Analysis of the Lobbying Strategies of Pro-migrant Groups on the Qualification Directive and its Recast. In: Journal of Contemporary European Research. 8, No. 1, pp. 21-39. 2012, p. 30 .
  17. ↑ The AnkER Centers: ECRE publishes report of visit to Germany. 2018 update. April 26, 2019, accessed May 26, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Country Report: Germany. Retrieved May 26, 2019 .
  19. ↑ a b The AnkER centersImplications for asylum procedures, reception and return , accessed May 26, 2019.
  20. ↑ The AnkER centersImplications for asylum procedures, reception and return , accessed May 26, 2019, p. 3
  21. ^ "A Contingency Plan for Disembarkation and Relocation" ECRE.org of January 11, 2019
  22. ↑ "ECRE - Finances" accessed on May 26, 2019
  23. ↑ a b About: ECRE Partners. (No longer available online.) ECRE, archived from the original on January 31, 2016 ; accessed on January 31, 2016 (English).
  24. ^ Grant: Guarding Standards - Shaping European Legislation. Atlantic Philanthropies, accessed January 31, 2016 .