Responsibility for Refugee and Migrant Integration

S. Karly Kehoe, Eva Alisic, Jan-Christoph Heilinger

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9783110626162
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Modern Philosophy

This volume brings together a range of practical and theoretical perspectives on responsibility in the context of refugee and migrant integration. Addressing one of the major challenges of our time, a diverse group of authors shares insights from history, philosophy, psychology, cultural studies, and from personal experience. The book expands our understanding of the complex challenges and opportunities that are associated with migration and integration, and highlights the important role that individuals can and should play in the process.

Interview with the authors: https://youtu.be/HDkaN_PBBF8

Responding

Jan-Christoph Heilinger

Newcomer integration, individual agency, and responsibility

Abstract: This paper analyses the responsibility of well-off citizens in high-income countries for contributing to the social task of newcomer integration into their society, based on a moral outlook stressing the equal moral worth of all. It discusses moral reasons to overcome apathy and inaction, offers a multilayered justification of individual responsibility, and points towards the importance of collective action and institutional support.

1. A global challenge

The number of people forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, or violence reached a record high of close to 70 million in 2017 (UNHCR 2018). People fleeing from their place of origin have to stay away for ever-longer periods of time given the long duration of the conflicts or the persistence of the adverse circumstances that made them flee. Recently, substantial numbers of people also sought refuge in Europe, a process sometimes labelled the ‘European refugee crisis’. However, the current situation would be more accurately described as a global challenge rather than a European one, for several reasons.

First, while there are significant numbers of people seeking refuge in Europe, this is part of a global phenomenon. The countries hosting the largest numbers of refugees are not the European ones; nor are the countries with the highest percentage of refugees in their populations. In absolute and relative terms, it is the low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) that are the most affected by incoming refugees.35 The increase in displacement, but also in migration and mobility worldwide, affects, albeit to varying degrees, countries across the globe, either as countries of origin for migrants or as host countries receiving newcomers. Global migration is a fact of our time and its multiple effects become tangible in different world regions. Consequently, the complex social, political, and ethical issues raised by the large numbers of human beings seeking refuge or migrating worldwide, should ultimately be an issue of moral concern for all humanity, even if the impact of such movements becomes more palpable in particular regions. Finding successful strategies to support and secure the peaceful and constructive living together of people from different backgrounds thus constitutes an important, yet complex global challenge.

Second, the reasons prompting people to migrate to Europe are wide-ranging and often have a global dimension: Global economic inequalities and local conflicts often result from complex interactions that are not confined to local factors alone. Poverty and economic deprivation in certain world regions, for example in sub-Saharan Africa, are not only a result of exclusively local factors, but are influenced also by the global economy and its rules for international economic exchange. The fact that, for example, illegitimate leaders can sell natural resources or borrow money in the name of the country contributes to poverty and deprivation triggering migratory movements (cf. e. g., Lessenich 2016; Wenar 2016). Local conflicts, such as the Syrian civil war, similarly have external influences among their origins36 and involve non-local agents (such as Iran, Turkey, Russia, and the Combined Joint Task Force which is composed of personnel from over thirty countries). For these reasons, any normative discussion about migration and its consequences calls for a global perspective transcending the confinements of an exclusively local or national perspective.

The large numbers of forcibly displaced people worldwide must not obscure the fact that migration involves individual lives and personal interactions in concrete and confined settings. The arrival of ‘newcomers’ – refugees, asylum-seekers, and other migrants37 – triggers a complex set of local interactions involving multiple agents, including the newcomers themselves, public and political institutions, as well as the citizens and residents in the host community. From the perspective of ethics, it is important to look behind the statistics to see the actions and interactions of individuals as ‘moral agents’. This chapter focusses on the role of individuals in the host countries and the responsibility they bear for contributing to the social task of integrating newcomers.38 I offer a normative discussion of the responsibility of those who are already there towards those who had to flee and have just arrived. National citizens are a particularly important and large group in this context, but also important are other groups within the local population, namely permanent residents or former refugees who can, and in many ways are expected to, bear responsibility for the newcomers.

From the outset, I have to specify three presupposed background assumptions. Firstly, I assume that all humans have equal moral worth and have basic rights, such as those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is, fundamentally, a universalist and egalitarian outlook, which, since it encompasses all persons on the globe as forming a community of moral relevance, can be labelled ‘cosmopolitan’ (Brock 2013). I do not argue for this view here. Secondly, my discussion of individual responsibility for newcomer integration focusses on the perspective of individual citizens in high-income countries, despite migration to these countries representing only a fraction of global migratory movements and notwithstanding the fact that many other people and institutions also bear responsibility in this process. This focus does not imply that the responsibilities of other agents – e. g., newcomers, public institutions in the receiving societies, and states and the international community – should be reduced. Yet, they are beyond the scope of this paper. Thirdly, I stipulate that integration, as an ideal, should be understood as the peaceful and fair living together of different individuals and groups within a society. An integrated society allows for and supports the participation of and interaction among all people on a footing of equality.39 It secures fair equality of opportunity, reduces and ultimately eliminates subordination, discrimination, and oppression. In an integrated society a sense of belonging is open to all and not dependent on issues of cultural, ethnic, religious, or national background.40 I do not perceive integration as a requirement to be met by newcomers who would have to unilaterally adapt to their new environment.41

Given this context, this chapter considers the role of those residing in the host community in the integration of refugees and newcomers; it defends the claim that they bear moral responsibility to contribute to addressing the local face of this global challenge. Apathy and inaction cannot be morally justified. This argument is presented in three sections. The first section explores the many ways that individuals and civil society initiatives actually support refugees and facilitate their integration. Large numbers of people contribute to this task and complement institutional activities or, as is often the case, make up for institutional shortcomings. This section thus shows a number of possible options to act. In the second section, I put forward a theoretical justification of such individual responsibility. Through a series of sub-questions, I take up the perspective of a citizen in an affluent country wondering why she should, as an individual, bear any responsibility for addressing the task of newcomer integration. The third section concludes with some reflections on the social and political context within which individual actions are located and stresses the importance of a division of labour between institutions and individuals in order to effectively realise the ideal of an integrated society.

Throughout the chapter, individual responsibility for refugee integration is considered from a normative perspective. I am fully aware that the views and arguments advanced here may contrast with many mainstream public debates, and I recognise that one should not overestimate the impact of philosophical reasoning in changing the deeply held convictions of those who disagree with the imperative of integration in what are rapidly becoming heated public debates. Nevertheless, it is important to spell out the implications of the fundamental equality of all (particularly in times when such views are increasingly subject to criticism and attack); and to promote the long-term project of realising a global society of equals.42

2. Taking responsibility for newcomer integration

Much public attention is currently being paid to the ugly responses to newcomers in the form of visible prejudice, xenophobia, outright racism, and violence; while the impressive range of contributions, projects, and initiatives undertaken by individuals and the civil society tend to receive little acknowledgement.43 Many such initiatives exist in which individuals contribute to the social task of newcomer integration and often fill gaps left by existing policies. Yet, some recognition exists and the European Economic and Social Committee (2017), for example, awarded its Civil Society Prize to selected civil society organisations for their contributions in supporting refugees and migrants. The EESC distinguishes numerous types of interventions undertaken by individuals and civil society initiatives, covering all steps from the very first arrival of the newcomers on secure territory to the different challenges they face when starting a new life. Activities range from emergency help, which includes the rescue from danger at sea and the provision of first relief, food, clothes, and shelter, to advice and assistance in dealing with the legal and administrative processes in the host country. Other civil society initiatives ensure the newcomers’ access to social and health services, or address the protection of human rights for the newcomers, e. g., by fighting against discrimination in its different forms. Some initiatives seek to raise awareness and increase understanding for the distinctive situation and the particular challenges faced by newcomers through information campaigns or the creation of meeting spaces allowing for encounters between long-term residents and newcomers. Yet others aim at promoting mutual understanding between people of different backgrounds and fostering the participation and integration of all. In this context, one must not underestimate how essential and effective the most basic human activities like sharing food or playing together can be. Another group of initiatives support training and education for newcomers and the provision of suitable and accessible information or individual mentoring to facilitate their integration into the labour market.

The activities mentioned are not meant to constitute a complete list. Instead, they illustrate the numerous activities that large numbers of people actually engage with, often for long periods and with significant personal costs in terms of time and other resources. Moreover, they cast light on the task of newcomer integration as a complex social and moral challenge.

In the following section, I discuss moral reasons for such engagement from the perspective of a resident in the host community, and I contend that getting involved as an individual should not simply be considered as a ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Responsibility for integration
• Witnessing
• Barriers and challenges
• Responding
• List of contributors
• Index