On May 31 and June 1, an EURITA (European Resettlement and Integration Technical Assistance Project) seminar was held in Tartu with attendees from all of the biggest organisations involved with refugees, and ministries. The focus of the seminar this time around was relocation and integration. The Estonian Human Rights Centre was represented by Anni Säär and Kelly Grossthal, and Anni also took the time to write down everything they saw and heard.
The seminar was led by experts from both the federal level as well as non-governmental organisations in the US, talking about their their personal experiences and helping other participants in finding future directions. Since 1975, the US as taken in over 3 million refugees. Before that, people were accepted purely on a humanitarian basis, without any particular planning or coordination. In 1980, the US started basing their relocation of refugees on the Refugee Act, and that year also saw 280 000 more refugees accepted into the country. The rise in refugee numbers in the 90s was due to the crisis in the Balkans and the fall of the Berlin wall. In 2016, 85 000 refugees were given asylum. In their activities in the US, people follow the idea that refugees are survivors, not victims, and therefore should be treated accordingly.
The main difference between the US and EU procedures of relocating is that the US system would see the refugees enter the workforce almost immediately – over 80% of the refugees find employment in the first 3 months. In the EU member states, however, the beneficiaries of protection might end up living on unemployment benefits for years. Alongside finding friends, employment is one of the most important conditions for succesful integration and Europe should put more effort into helping people to find employment right away. The benefits paid by the US government do not guarantee the ability to live a decent life, and therefore people are more motivated to seek employment. The relocated refugees sign up for employment programmes in 10 days. There, they are prepared for entering the workforce and they receive assistance in finding a suitable job. Often, they have to start out in an entry-level job, but with hard work, they can be promoted to higher positions. The US programme focuses on trying to make refugees feel like Americans and therefore, motivate them to want to contribute and be a full and active member of society. The trainers from the US pointed out that refugees must not be „experimented on“ or relocated to places that are not open or welcoming, because all that influences people’s attitudes and integration.
Another big topic in the seminar was the competence of interpreters and the need for additional training, since they play a big role in asylum procedures and follow-up communication. As of now, in Estonia there are no training programmes to prepare interpreters for such situations, so they could fulfil their role as well as guarantee a legally safer environment for themselves. Such training programmes clearly need to be designed.
To conclude the seminar, all participants agreed on two plans – mapping out the information the refugees get or lack and from where do they get said information, and to train interpreters on the more specific related topics.
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