David Hudson,
European Union Networks on Integration of Refugees in Europe
UNITED KINGDOM
david@refugeenet.org

Baha Abu-Laban
University of Alberta
CANADA
abulaban@ualberta.ca

Doug Durst
University of Regina
CANADA
doug.durst@uregina.ca

Description:

Refugees constitute a special class of immigrants who are visibly present in many Western countries. Special programs are often devised to facilitate their integration into the new societies. Public and private sector workers (e.g., NGO representatives) are great advocates for refugees and their successful integration. While the work of these service providers is a frequent focus of discussion, very little attention is given to refugees as active agents in the process of sociocultural and economic integration. In other words, strategies for integration generated by the refugees themselves have not been a frequent focus of discussion.

The purpose of this workshop is to examine refugees' self-generated strategies and experiences of integration in the different national contexts of settlement. The workshop is guided by such questions as: What strategies are employed by refugees to effect their own integration? How do such strategies evolve? Are there differences in refugees' self-generated strategies in the different national contexts in which they exist? What strategies are or promise to be successful and what strategies are not? How do public sector programs and private sector settlement services interact with the strategies generated by refugees, and with what effect? And, do private sector settlement services acknowledge these self-generated strategies and seek to empower refugees?