Editorial by Conny Reuter, SOLIDAR Secretary General

Don’t miss this historic opportunity!

11 September 2015

As President Juncker highlighted in his State of the Union address on Wednesday, the migration and refugee crisis is one of the most pressing issues for the EU. The tragedies in the Mediterranean with the deaths of thousands of people trying to reach the EU in search of protection and a better life have become a recurring horror in the last few years, but last month the exodus surged to new levels, and included countries sharing land borders with the EU and the Western Balkan region.

As outlined in my first comment to the State of the Union speech of Wednesday, solidarity is needed in the form of a coordinated, human rights-based political response by the EU. This is desperately urgent and some of the points raised by President Juncker represent important steps on which to build.

As the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers prepare to meet at an Extraordinary Council on 14 September in Brussels we call upon the EU and national leaders to take action and to deliver on the following points:

• The EU and its Member States have to ensure that its internal and external policies give migrants and refugees access to their fundamental economic, social and cultural rights, as they are often prevented in practice from enjoying them.

• The EU has a responsibility to open safe and legal channels to the EU to provide concrete alternatives to dangerous boat or land trips for people seeking international protection and a better life. EU leaders cannot continue neglecting this crucial part of the debate.

• The EU needs to develop adequate tools to provide joint and coordinated responses to the humanitarian emergency within the EU territory that ensure solidarity among Member States and respect and promote fundamental rights.

• An urgent initiative is needed to replace the Dublin regulation with a system that focuses more on the respect and promotion of fundamental rights, foresees a more efficient responsibility-sharing mechanism and an improved harmonisation of protection standards.

• The EU should definitively reverse the logic of austerity and facilitate social investment in more resources to provide adequate and quality healthcare, social housing, social services and education as well as instruments to facilitate the recognition of the competences and qualifications of migrants, allowing them to take part in further education and access labour market. Facilitating this access shall not undermine labour and employment standards.

• As migration is a key component in the review of the European Neighbourhood Policy a rights-based approach to mobility and migration has to become an integral component of the new ENP in order to provide for a more coherent response linking Home and Foreign Affairs.

• As regards development aid, rather than cutting budgets – a move also criticised by President Juncker the EU should encourage the Ratification of the UN Migrant Worker Convention as well as ILO Conventions 97 and 143 on migrant workers and develop a cooperation policy based on the concrete implementation of the ‘more for more’ approach.

• Partnerships and agreements signed with third countries where frequent violations of the rights of migrants and refugees occur should exclude readmission clauses.

It is about urgent action now and the development of policies allowing real integration in the medium and long term.

In this sense the migration and refugee crisis can be an opportunity! Don’t miss it – for the sake of the migrants and refugees, for the sake of the European project and for the sake of future generations!

You can read the SOLIDAR statement here.

Together for Social Europe

Volonteurope Working Group Meeting on Social Impact Measurement

11 September 2015

On Thursday 10 September SOLIDAR partner Volonteurope gathered representatives from European welfare organisations to work on a recently launched project on Social Impact Measurement in the field of Volunteering Work. Among the participants were representatives from SOLIDAR members ASB Germany, Volunteering Matters (UK), Humanitas (NL) and affiliate member IDC Serbia.

The working group’s aim is to work out a toolkit to measure the social impact of volunteering work by the end of 2017. The toolkit should facilitate the improvement of volunteering work on all levels and the measurable outcome of volunteering work shall help to further improve the recognition of this important sector in Europe. In this week’s productive meeting the participants worked out a timetable and a work plan on how to further proceed. A very positively perceived outcome was the fact that practical experience will be included from the outset, meaning there will be ‘in-the-field’ work from the beginning.

The participants were hosted by the organisation Body & Soul, a volunteering project helping people and families affected by HIV. The participating member organisations of SOLIDAR will keep you updated on the progress of the project.

Building Learning Societies

G20 Labour and Employment Ministers address youth unemployment

10 September 2015

Ministers of Labour and Employment from G20 members met in Ankara on 3 and 4 September to discuss recent trends in the global labour market, key challenges the world is facing and possible actions to address these challenges. A strong focus has been put on tackling youth unemployment through education and training.

The main outcome of the meeting was the adoption of the Ankara Declaration, calling for the creation of quality jobs for all, investing in skills and reducing inequalities to promote inclusive and robust growth.
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Looking at the situation of youth in Europe

10 September 2015

Since the outbreak of the financial crisis, the situation of youth on the labour market has grown worse. As youth unemployment rises and employment standards fall, young people are increasingly exposed to atypical and precarious employment conditions and often have to live in vulnerable conditions. The economic crisis and the recession and its consequences have also impacted the transition from education to work, and the quality of opportunities offered to young people on the labour market. The staggering level of unemployment results in young people accepting poor working conditions, discrimination, exploitation and (bogus) self-employment without proper social security. Even greater challenges face the groups of young migrants and refugees who are looking to start their new lives in Europe. When job opportunities are scarce for young people, there is tremendous pressure on working conditions, partly due to young people’s lack of awareness of their rights-at-work.

In the framework of the WOW for Youth project, youth activists from Denmark, Ireland, Italy, and Serbia are developing short videos to showcase the situation of young people in their home countries regarding youth employment and the challenges they face especially in regard to quality jobs and decent work.
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Organising International Solidarity

Burkina Faso: the universal health insurance law is finally a reality

10 September 2015

Just a few months ago SOLIDAR was on mission to the International Labour Conference (ILO ILC) in Geneva. Among the members of the delegation was our member Solidarité Socialiste’s* partner ASMADE**, who was lobbying the Burkina Faso government officials to pass the law that would ensure universal access to health care. This law would allow all segments of the population, both in the formal and informal economy to benefit from quality health care.

This week, on 5 September, the bill establishing Universal Health Insurance (in French, Assurance Maladie Universelle – AMU) was finally adopted in Burkina Faso. The bill has been in the pipeline since 2008 as part of a broader strategy to extend the coverage of the country’s social protection system and to ensure that everyone had access to health care.
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