Research

 A Research on "Third Country Nationals' Integration System Development"  

For more information on the activities The European Fund for the Integration of Third-country nationals and program of 2007 look at the home page of the European Commission ec.europa.eu

This year, following the requirements of the European Commission with respect to immigrant integration, Latvia has started the acquisition of The European Fund for the Integration of Third-country nationals. The aim of the fund is to facilitate the development of immigrant integration sysyem which takes into consideration recommendation of the EU. The EU recommendations suggest inclusive society, based on communication, mutual respect and humanism, as well as inclusive institutions with lucid functions according to juridical norms.

This summer, the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences took up a research project "Third country nationals' integration system development" (contract no. 2007/1.1/1). The aim of the project is to facilitate development of welcoming society which is aware of immigration policy significance and necessity and could regard immigrants and guest workers positively and adequately, both at the everyday communication level and at the level of state institutions providing social services to immigrants. The research is co-financed by the European Union.

From the one hand, the research seeks to study various immigrant groups (students studying here in Latvia, guest workers and their family members), in order to find out their specific needs with respect to housing, labor market, health, education and social security. To identify existing risks of discrimination, the individual social inclusion strategies and problems are going to be looked at. From the other hand, the juridical and institutional framework of immigrants’ integration policy has a great influence over inclusion of third country nationals in the society. For this reason, besides third country nationals as a target group research also involves employers, service providers, mediators and policy planners. In the research, the role of involved institutions and agents is going to be explored, as well as possibilities to provide services to third country nationals in a way ensuring equal opportunities and rights.

The analysis of results will take into consideration Latvia’s and, particularly, the EU immigration and integration juridical regulation and recommendations. The research aims to provide an informative basis for particular recommendation on how to eliminate structural barriers of integration, to develop inclusive environment and improve respective juridical norms.