WORLD MIGRATION REPORT 2015 Migrants and Cities: New Partnerships to Manage Mobility
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Cities, academic institutions and foundations. The working group issues reference materials on current integration matters that serve as best practices. On the European level, the city supports the exchange of 35 European cities on local integration policy as part of the European Network of Cities for Local Integration Policies and in cooperation with the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the Council of Europe, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, and the Committee of the Regions. Through various case studies, effective good practice examples were developed for different government levels for the further development of European integration policy. The city also partners with the Cities of Migration network of the Maytree Foundation, the Transatlantic Cities Network of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Robert Bosch Foundation, and the Bertelsmann Foundation in order to foster innovative ideas on integration practices. Contributed by Fritz Kuhn, Mayor of Stuttgart As a budget tightening effort, many European governments have mainstreamed integration priorities across general policy areas, including education and employment. Yet it is not clear whether or not such mainstreaming will lead to better coordination among agencies at the national and local government levels (Collet and Petrovic, 2014). At the supranational level, the EU has developed a European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals.6 However other lower-income regions in the world are not likely to attain this level of convergence. There is a dearth of research on how different state structures and political systems shape migration policies and their impacts on urban development and planning, especially in lower-income regions (Caponio and Borkert, 2010). While cities everywhere try to pursue inclusive and sustainable development, not all cities are equally resourced and motivated to achieve the goal. The degree to which the good practices of high-income countries in diversity management are relevant or useful to low- and middle-income countries facing rapid urban transition is very much a question. Migration policies of both origin and destination countries can affect cities in positive and negative ways. Restrictive, inadequate or unclear policies on labour mobility in Africa, Asia and Europe have contributed to large irregular migration and the growth of informal urban settlements. Strict border control policies can lead to urban “transit hubs� where migrants become stranded on their way to intended destinations. Text box 29 describes the repercussions on Morocco caught between sub-Saharan migrants trying to reach Europe and the restrictive policies of European countries in seeking to deny them access. On the positive side, overseas worker programmes in origin countries have brought huge remittances that, together with other returns, have helped towns, cities and the economy back home to develop.
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See the European website on integration at http://ec.europa.eu/ewsi/en/policy/legal.cfm