Brussels, 20 November 2009 - Representatives from Caritas Lithuania, Caritas Austria, Caritas Poland and Caritas Europa attended the European Integration Forum last week in order to push for equal rights and equal opportunities for all and in particular for migrants in Europe.

At the Forum, Caritas pushed for a holistic approach to integration – one that is not only grounded in appropriate legislation, but that also attempts to change attitudes from the bottom up. Integration is an exercise that involves all, and as a result, community involvement and an approach that emphasises the common bonds between each and every human being are at least as important as comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation.

Migrants and other socially excluded people are not just a target group – they are actors in their own integration. Caritas therefore urged the European Integration Forum to strengthen the effectiveness of local social inclusion projects. Caritas also argued that energy would be better focused on achieving the objectives of integration policy rather than engaging in an endless debate on a common definition of integration.   

Caritas Europa’s position on integration was well received by the other participants as was its report ‘Migration, a Journey into Poverty’ – also distributed at the Forum. It was all in all an event during which many opinions on how to approach integration were aired and many shared, giving all the European Integration Forum’s participants a highly successful opportunity to compare their methods with the common aim of ending social exclusion in Europe.

For more information, please contact:

Peter Verhaeghe
Migration Officer
Tel.: + 32 (0)2 235 03 96
Mob.: + 32 (0)478 58 54 33
E-Mail: pverhaeghe@caritas-europa.org