Key Takeaways from the 2nd IN2PREV Cross-Sectoral Roundtable: Advancing Radicalisation Prevention and Refugee Integration through Cross-Sectoral Collaboration
Benefiting from the perspectives shared by researchers and frontline practitioners from across 15 European countries, the 2nd Cross-Sectoral Roundtable of the IN2PREV project contributed to highlighting key insights on the state of cross-sectoral collaboration in Europe. Held on December 5th, 2024, the event brought together network members and opened with a presentation on the state of cross-sectoral collaboration in Europe, given by the IN2PREV Project Coordinator BSAFE Lab/UBI. This presentation included an introduction to the Practical Handbook of Collaborative and Cooperative Practices, developed within the framework of the IN2PREV project, which highlights 26 best practices for establishing preventive mechanisms for law enforcement agents working with refugees and asylum seekers. Following this presentation, the roundtable discussion started, featuring four panellists who each offered a unique perspective on the topic of cross-sectoral collaboration. Andrea Spehar, from the Centre on Global Migration at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, shared her perspective and experience as a researcher. Florentina Mihalcea, representing the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Romania, provided a multilateral viewpoint. Tatiana Ciumaș, from Moldova’s General Migration Inspectorate, contributed with a law enforcement perspective, while Karolina Stubińska, from Poland’s Migration Advisory Centre, underlined the essential role of non-governmental organisations in successful integration at the community level.
The roundtable discussion highlighted five key insights on the state of cross-sectoral collaboration in Europe, which were as follows: 1. Strong multi-level partnerships between international organisations, state institutions and local stakeholders are key to more effective cross-sectoral collaboration: Successful cross-sectoral collaboration involves strong and multi-level partnerships between migration authorities, local actors, including townhalls and NGOs, law enforcement agencies, and international organisations. This approach has proved particularly relevant in responding to the recent influx of refugees and asylum-seekers from Ukraine. Essential to this success has been the inclusion of local authorities in the arrival process, with the use of translators to facilitate communication and enhance integration. In addition, this cross-sectoral cooperation has proven even more effective when extended to local response teams that support refugees and asylum-seekers through job integration, translation services, and other critical support activities in a given host community. 2. Including refugees’ and asylum-seekers’ voices in policy development has proven to be a shifting factor in designing effective policies that address their needs and challenges successfully: Direct involvement of refugees and asylum-seekers in policy development projects has proven essential in bridging the gap between policy design and practical implementation. By creating platforms where refugees can engage directly with frontline practitioners, stakeholders have been able to design policies and initiatives that reflect real needs and responses to lived experiences of refugees and asylum-seekers. Such inclusive approach has allowed to improve the relevance of integration strategies in different national contexts and ensured that support mechanisms are responding to the current realities by being both practical and impactful. 3. Further training for local authorities and frontline practitioners to adequately address the diversity of needs and challenges of refugees and asylum-seekers present in the country is needed: Insufficient training and understanding among local authorities and frontline practitioners on the different needs and challenges faced by refugees and asylum-seekers remain a challenge throughout various European countries. For example, in the context of the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian refugees and asylum-seekers have received support rapidly, which has proved to be the successful result of a coordinated effort on behalf of frontline practitioners and local authorities. However, it has been identified that, those from other countries face entirely different challenges that are not always recognised and addressed adequately. For this reason, specific training programmes are necessary to create a common understanding among local authorities and frontline practitioners of the diverse needs of refugees and asylum-seekers and equip them with the skills and understanding to support the integration of various populations within host communities effectively 4. Modernising legal frameworks and overcoming bureaucratic obstacles is essential to ensure a timely response to the ongoing influx of refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe: Outdated legal frameworks, which are impossible to apply in the current context and do not reflect the current reality, pose a significant obstacle for frontline practitioners throughout Europe. Additionally, it was noted that bureaucratic delays present an obstacle in providing timely and adequate responses to refugees and asylum-seekers’ needs, especially in the context of the war in Ukraine, which has created an additional pressure throughout European countries. Updating legal frameworks to current circumstances and simplifying bureaucratic processes is therefore essential to allow successful integration and prevent vulnerabilities to radicalisation in refugees and asylum-seekers in upcoming times. 5. Lack of consensus on data and common terminology: It was noted that several European countries lack a unified and centralised system at the national level for collecting and managing migration data, which consequently leads different actors to have a different understanding of the state of the migration in the country. In addition to this challenge, it was noted that different actors use different terminology, which typically slows down the communication among them. Establishing a centralised and unified data system at the national level and reaching a common terminology to improve communication should therefore constitute a priority for the bettering of the cooperation between actors and the overall improvement of cross-sectoral collaboration. The ideas shared during the 2nd Cross-Sectoral Roundtable offered valuable reflections that will help drive the ongoing improvement of cross-sectoral collaboration in preventing the vulnerability of refugees and asylum-seekers to radicalisation and enhancing successful integration. The success of the event was made possible thanks to the active contributions of all four speakers and network members. The IN2PREV project is led by the BSAFE LAB – University of Beira Interior (Portugal), and partnered by IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (Portugal), the Polish Platform for Homeland Security (Poland), the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies (Spain), the European Association for Social Innovation (Romania), the General Police Inspectorate (Moldova), the Bureau of Migration and Asylum (Moldova), the Centre for Security Studies (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and the Academy of the Police Force in Bratislava (Slovakia). For more information on the IN2PREV project, please visit its page. |