EU-Report
Im Dezember 2007 legte die hochrangige ExpertInnengruppe im Auftrag der EU Kommission Vorschläge für die Integration ethnischer Minderheiten in den Arbeitsmarkt vor. Die Gruppe, deren Vorsitz die frühere Bundestagspräsidentin Rita Süssmuth inne hatte, hatte die Aufgabe, Barrieren aufzuzeigen, die Angehörige ethnischer Minderheiten an einer vollen Teilhabe am Arbeitsmarkt hindern und bewährte Verfahren aus Wirtschaft und Politik herauszustellen.
Die Gruppe hat 14 wichtige Barrieren ausgemacht, die einer Eingliederung ethnischer Minderheiten in den Arbeitsmarkt entgegenstehen. Dazu gehören ein Mangel an Qualifikationen, fehlender Zugang zur allgemeinen und beruflichen Bildung, bürokratische Hindernisse, negative Anreize durch Sozialsysteme sowie stereotype Vorstellungen, Vorurteile und Diskriminierungen. Als praktische Maßnahmen schlägt die Gruppe einen Politik-Mix vor, bei dem die Aufgabenbereiche Diskriminierungsverbot, Chancengleichheit und Umgang mit Vielfalt gleichzeitig angegangen werden. Daneben soll grundsätzlich die Betonung der Menschenrechte im Vordergrund stehen.
Insgesamt – darauf verwiesen bei der Vorstellung des Berichts sowohl EU-Kommissar Vladimir Spidla als auch Rita Süssmuth – betrifft eine fortwährende Diskriminierung und weit reichende soziale Ausgrenzung in vielen Ländern vor allem die ethnische Minderheit der Roma.
Im folgenden dokumentieren wir die Empfehlungen der Kommission aus dem Bericht "Ethnic Minorities in the Labour Market - An Urgent Call for Better Social Inclusion":
Recommendations
The High Level Advisory Group of Experts (HLG) makes its recommendations on the basis of the barriers which it identified during its mandate and its assessment of good practice in both public policy and enterprises. These recommendations are combined with precise calls for action with a view to implementation.
The HLG is convinced that the following eight recommendations can be used to build a strong frame for the social and labour market inclusion of ethnic minorities. This frame has to be filled by the relevant actors – alone and in partnerships – in the spirit of a common vision which comprises
- the respect for a life free of discrimination
- the respect for diversity
- the respect of human rigtt
- the consideration of rights of children and young people
- personal freedom and emancipation as societal goals
- the interdependence of democracy, tolerance, rule of law and mutual respect.
The HLG recommends the European Commission, the other European institutions, the Member States' authorities at all appropriate levels, social partners and organisations of civil society to
(1) Make the inclusion of members of ethnic minorities into the society, in particular into the labour market, a priority of the political agenda
- build the commitment of political leaders at all levels for the social and labour market inclusion of ethnic minorities
- build the commitment of business leaders for the social and labour market inclusion of ethnic minorities
- ensure that the objective of inclusion of ethnic minorities is mainstreamed in all relevant Community policies, in particular the European Employment Strategy and the European Strategy for Social Inclusion and Social Protection
- elaborate by the end of 2008 a European business charter on diversity
(2) Pursue equality and gender mainstreaming
- apply systematically the principle of equality mainstreaming in European and national legislation and policy planning
- apply systematically the principle of gender mainstreaming in European and national legislation and policy planning
- remove structural and administrative barriers which preserve inequalities.
(3) Identify and address specific barriers to inclusion of members of ethnic minorities
- address the
Lack of education and training
-- make schools for children (and training facilities for adults) better accessible and improve their quality that members of ethnic minorities have equal chances to get a good education
-- use the support of civil society, organisations of ethnic minorities to identify needs and possible solutions
-- involve parents and ensure that they feel responsible for the educational success of their children
-- make efforts to overcome language barriers in school education, possibly by training teachers in minority languages or bringing in co-teachers who speak minority languages
-- include the education of intercultural skills in the curricula of schools and training facilities
-- use the possibilities of pre-school education to reduce barriers for children from ethnic minorities before entering formal education
-- create opportunities for a "2nd chance" for adults to acquire basic education and training
- Lack of language skills
-- define as a priority goal in every Member State that all members of ethnic minorities have access to training in the language of their country of residence
- Lack of recognition of skills and qualifications
-- facilitate in every Member State the recognition of formal skills and qualifications acquired in a third country
-- support in every Member State vocational training courses which help to formalize skills of members of ethnic minorities
-- use tools such as the Europass to document the acquisition of skills in another Member States
-- develop together with national authorities simple systems to document informally acquired skills
- Lack of access to professions
-- liberalize the access to all occupations, including those in the public sector for all qualified candidates
-- strengthen efforts in every Member State that members of ethnic minorities are equally represented in the work place and in occupations
- Lack of access to citizenship
-- follow the examples of countries which permit naturalization after five years
-- apply the ius soli for all children born in the country of residence
-- reduce obstacles for dual citizenship
- Lack of integration policies
-- invite every Member State to draw up by 2010 a policy document on its integration strategy which can serve as a basis for peer review and mutual learning
-- analyze in every Member States which kind on integration policy is required in order to facilitate the social and labour market inclusion of descendants of immigrants and ethnic minorities and implement it
- Stereotypes, prejudices and negative attitudes
-- mobilize all relevant social actors to fight against stereotypes, prejudices and negative attitudes
-- combat stereotypes and prejudices within public authorities and among other public actors
-- create partnerships with the media to achieve this goal
- Lack of mobility and concentration in certain areas
-- support mobility by ensuring that social rights and entitlements are preserved
-- fight against the establishment of segregated ethnic neighborhoods
-- analyze together with organisation of ethnic minorities how their mobility can be enhanced
- Industrial Change
-- use the possibilities from European and national funds to enhance the employability of workers
- Disincentives through welfare systems
-- make sure that work pays
-- reform welfare systems that they can be applied with a better target-orientation on the needs of individual people
-- remove in every Member State as far as possible administrative and legal barriers in order to allow asylum seekers and third country nationals to work
- Discrimination
-- transpose EU Directive 2000/43/EC in all Member States correctly
-- enforce EU and national law against discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin
-- ensure that national equality bodies are independent, sufficiently resourced and have the professional expertise to support victims of discrimination effectively
-- recognize and support the valuable contribution of civil society (NGOs, foundations, churches, the Third Sector etc.) to the every-day fight against discrimination
- Lack of information
-- analyze together with organisations of ethnic minorities which kind of information (and possibly: in which language) is relevant for ethnic minorities to get access to the labour market as well as to fully participate in society
- Labour market competition
-- treat all members of ethnic minorities on equal footing and ensure that the labour market is functioning free of discrimination
-- mobilize social partners to contribute to the debate and to represent all ethnic groups of workers equally
- Undeclared work
-- use all means to ensure that members of ethnic minorities are not channeled to the black labour market - encourage project promoters to develop systematically mid-term and a long-term perspective (i.e. 3-5 years and after 5 years) for integration projects
- formulate in every Member State specific targets for the participation of ethnic minorities in the labour market, in general and vocational training as well as in lifelong learning
(4) Establish a sustainable long-term policy for promoting inclusive labour markets, using a targeted, but not ethnically segregated approach
- pursue an approach which addresses at the same time non-discrimination, equal opportunities and diversity management and use their potential to achieve real instead of formal equality
- encourage businesses on a voluntary basis (e.g. in the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility) to set up a practical framework for diversity management
- encourage and support SMEs – i.a. through training and the dissemination of practical toolkits – to implement diversity strategies
- encourage and support business start-ups of members of ethnic minorities by providing for access to information and to finance
- invite the social partners at European level to update their joint declaration of 1995 and encourage them to elaborate in the context of their joint work programme initiatives for the labour market inclusion of ethnic minorities
- invite the national social partners to develop initiatives for the labour market inclusion of ethnic minorities
- encourage Member States to make use of the possibility to promote positive action
- support the development of training tools to promote a discrimination-free work place
- encourage Member States to modernise their public services particularly in areas such as education, social services or policing by taking the greater ethnic diversity into account
- encourage investment in the Third Sector with a view to create employment opportunities for ethnic minorities which could combine e.g. work and qualification, and social support
- use public procurement and corporate supplier policies to support ethnic minority businesses
(5) Mobilize all relevant actors, making use of the opportunities and value the contributions from members of ethnic minorities to the society
- apply systematically the principle that organisations of ethnic minorities and NGOs representing and defending the rights of members of ethnic minorities are involved whenever inclusion policies are drawn up
- ensure that the relevant report, resolution and opinions adopted by the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions are followed-up and implemented
- ensure that projects aiming at the social and labour market inclusion of ethnic minorities are horizontally and vertically inclusive
- encourage and support the cooperation of civil society organisations, public authorities and equality bodies to address the issue of multiple discrimination targeted on members of ethnic minorities and in particular in women belonging to ethnic discrimination
- strengthen in every Member State the Equality Body and support the cooperation of Equality Bodies in EQUINET
- pursue campaigns both at EU and national level such as the "For Diversity. Against Discrimination" campaign of the EU
- encourage all Member State to include intercultural training as an integral part in general and vocational training as well as continuous training
- create by 2009 a European award which will be awarded annually to one municipality, one company and one organisation of civil society for the most important contribution for including ethnic minorities
- highlight in and information and awareness raising campaigns at all levels not only the economic and social added value provided by ethnic minorities, but underline also their contribution the culture of European societies
(6) Allocate the necessary resources
- make full use of Community funding such as the European Structural Funds, in particular the European Social Fund (ESF), for the social and labour market integration of ethnic minorities
- define in the Community Action Program for the Integration of Ethnic Minorities which Community funding can be used for vocational and general training, social housing, anti-discrimination and social inclusion
- develop by 2010 with national ESF authorities training formats for representatives of civil society and municipalities with a view to empower them to apply for Community funding dedicated to the labour market inclusion of ethnic minorities
- make full use of the Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity PROGRESS in order to support capacity building of civil society
- define in every Member States by 2010 targets for public spending on the inclusion of ethnic minorities for language training, vocational training, housing, health services which are oriented towards the best performing Member State in each category
- mainstream issues of ethnic minorities in all Community policies and programmes
(7) Support mutual learning by highlighting good practice and developing knowledge and strengthen the analytical tools
- support the exchange of good practice among public authorities at all levels
- support the networking and cooperation of public authorities, civil society and businesses in order to develop inclusion strategies at local/company level which are transferable
- support the dissemination of successful projects carried out with the support of the ESF and the Community Initiative EQUAL
- provide support for the set-up of a forum in 2008 which brings together representatives of public authorities at EU-, national -, regional – and local level, civil society, social partners, and ombudspersons/equality bodies
- encourage Member States to collect data on ethnicity on a strictly anonymous basis, in compliance with the rules on the protection of personal data and making sure that personal data which can be tracked down to an individual person do not indicate his or her ethnic origin, physical appearance, or colour of skin etc; ensure that for specifically targeted studies only data which are based on selfdeclaration and which are anonymous and collected in line with national laws are compiled
- use all possibilities of the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU for the collection and analysis of data as well as for the monitoring of inclusion policies in favour of ethnic minorities
- define role models of successful inclusion of members of ethnic minorities and communicate their success to the communities
- strengthen international cooperation with UN and its agencies (UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO), Worldbank, IMF, Council of Europe (in particular the ECRI and Human Rights Commissioners) and international NGOs and learn from the experience made in other regions of the world (Canada, US, New Zealand)
- place the social and labour market inclusion of ethnic minorities on the agendas of the Transatlantic Dialogue as well as of the regular dialogues with ACP countries, the AU, India
The HLG is aware that Roma represent the ethnic minority which is confronted with the highest risk to be excluded from the labour market and from society. Hence, it recommends in addition to the first seven recommendations – which are fully applicable also for Roma – specifically with regard to the inclusion of this group:
(8) Focus specifically on the implementation of policies to improve the situation of Roma in terms of education, employment, health and housing
- In order to break the vicious cycle of poverty, a strong focus on education is the only way to a sustainable development
- invite Member States to invest in pre-school education of Roma children
- abolish school segregation for Roma children and abolish any kind of channelling of Roma to schools for children with mental disabilities'
- consider the role of families and the living environment
- analyse together with representatives of Roma civil society which practical barriers, such as a lack of public transport, a lack of learning material, absolute poverty of the family or a lack of language skills prevent Roma children from attending classes successfully
- encourage the use and the further development of scholarship schemes for Roma, such as the Roma Education Fund
- invite Member States to reflect about possibilities to apply positive action in favour of Roma graduates - develop and implement a comprehensive Community Action Plan
- oversee policies notably with regard to social inclusion and employment to ensure that Roma can fully participate in society and the labour market
- guarantee access to rights for the Roma through the full implementation of Directive 2000/43/EC, and encourage Equality Bodies to put a strong focus on the application and enforcement of these rights
- support the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 and the OSCE Action Plan of 2003
- set up in 2008 a Task Force on Roma in order to elaborate and implement a Community Action Plan and coordinate Community policies which aim at their social and labour market inclusion
- encourage Member States to include the goal of Roma inclusion when drawing up their Operational Programmes on the Structural Funds, and in particular on the ESF
- benefit from the experience acquired in the ACCEDER project financed under the ESF which was targeted on neighbourhoods with a high Roma population and aimed at improving the employability of people by improving the whole environment including housing and health services
- use the whole range of positive action to create equal opportunities for Roma, in particular for young people and women.
"Ethnic Minorities in the Labour Market - An Urgent Call for Better Social Inclusion": 
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Report: Ethnic Minorities in the Labour Market- An Urgent Call for better Inclusion (Cover photo: Nora Krauss, Germany - 2nd winner of the 2007 'Breaking Stereotypes')