Community of Practice – Ricongiungimento – In Italia insieme alla tua famiglia

Community of Practice

BACKGROUND

The family is the fundamental core of society and its integrity is protected by international law and binding legal instruments. Article 16(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that the family is the natural and fundamental group of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state. At the regional level in Europe, the right to family life is protected under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 7), the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 8), and the Council Directive 2003/86/EC.

Furthermore, under EU and ECHR law, refugees are entitled to family reunification under preferential conditions and States have an obligation to facilitate the exercise of this right. Standing jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights requires states to give effect to the right to family life and family unity through flexible, prompt and effective access to family reunification.

When forced to flee their country of origin, refugee families are sometimes split up and remain separated for long periods of time. Family reunification in this sense becomes the only means of protecting their right to family unity.

States have a responsibility to protect and restore the family life through family reunification procedures, which is the most widely used, though still underdeveloped, channel of legal entry and is also the only route based on a fundamental human right, that of family unity.

Family reunification procedures are not only a safe and legal route to enter a country where a family member is staying, but a necessary tool to prevent refugees and migrants from resorting to dangerous and irregular journeys, putting their lives at risk. In this sense, effective family reunification procedures can discourage smuggling networks that abuse refugees’ and migrants’ need to be reunited with their families.

Finally, reuniting separated families helps refugees heal from the trauma of conflict and increases prospects for integration of refugees and migrants. Reunited families adapt better to their new communities and family members can provide a sense of security, especially for vulnerable groups such as women and children, and support economic self-sufficiency.

SCOPE

The Community of Practice (CoP) on family reunification for beneficiaries of international protection and migrants aims to promote and facilitate access to family reunification through the organization of training meetings, information exchange, sharing of good practices and critical issues, and analysis of relevant jurisprudence among international and non-governmental organizations, institutions, social and legal practitioners, and experts in the field.

The CoP is composed of the following founding members of the CoP: ARCI, Caritas, Italian Red Cross, Italian Refugee Council, Save the Children, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), UNHCR.

The founding members develop an annual work plan, over the course of three years from the launch of the CoP that will include the organisation of events, seminars, analytical or other documents aimed at achieving the activities of the CoP.

The founding members commit to meet periodically, upon convocation by the CoP Secretariat, to agree on strategic lines, exchange experiences and good practices, review achievements, agree on potential common advocacy lines, test new programmes, and reach further practical collaborative solutions. With reference to the potential common advocacy lines, the unanimity criteria will be used; in case of lack of unanimity, organizations can still go public on their own without the “CoP brand”.

The CoP is open to membership by other members – either as individuals or representatives of organisations – who share CoP’s aims and regularly participate in its activities.

The CoP’s activities will be carried out by ensuring a community-based approach, guaranteeing the participation of refugee-led organizations in its meetings and/or conducting periodic thematic focus groups with beneficiaries of international protection.

Normativa e informazioni generali