The number of people displaced by violence, conflict & persecution has never been higher.
At Share we advocate for improved and wide-reaching solutions for refugees and migrants requiring resettlement and protection in Europe.
Some figures
as of May 2022
Worlwide, over 100 million people are internally displaced, are living as refugees or asylum seekers
83% are hosted in low- and middle- income countries, and 73% in neighbouring countries
23.3 million refugees and other people in need are living in protracted situations with no prospect of a durable solution for their protection needs
Source: UNHCR Global Trends 2022
Objectives
Through our policy & advocacy work we seek to:
Ensure that policy and funding at EU level facilitates and sustainably grows this involvement
Reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the steadily growing engagement in the resettlement of newcomers across Europe
Build the capacities and willingness of European countries to welcome refugees and support their integration
Challenges
Migration & asylum remain politically divisive both within the EU & around the world. Resettlement & complementary pathways depend on voluntary commitments from national governments, and political changes can mean that countries suddenly withdraw their engagement.
Present challenge
The crisis in Afghanistan requires new commitments at both European and national level. We are mobilising support across our network and partners, calling for tangible commitments from national governments to expand admissions now and over the coming years.
Approach
Engage with a wide range of actors
We engage with actors to disseminate knowledge and best practice from existing programmes across Europe. Once engaged, we support with capacity-building, creating place-based partnerships and encouraging grassroot actions for welcome and integration at local level.
Work with civil society & international organisations
To ensure our call for better EU policy is heard in Brussels, we engage with EU institutions, speak at conferences and events and monitor commitments made at a national level. To ensure our advocacy priorities reflect local experiences, we build advocacy partnerships with civil society organisations, regional and local authorities and refugees themselves.
Local & regional partnerships
Our vision is that all communities, large and small, can contribute to refugee protection via resettlement and complementary pathways. Our partnerships with cities, regions, and local communities directly contribute to resettlement efforts offering welcome, housing and integration support.
Share Advocacy Briefing Series: Our priorities & recommendations for EU action
This series gives regular updates on resettlement, sponsorship and complementary pathways including Share’s position, priorities and recommendations. The briefing series contains 8 chapters as follow:
Legal Pathways: Resettlement and Complementary Pathways of Admission for Refugees
Resettlement
Community Sponsorship
Integration
Integration in Smaller Communities and Rural Areas
Participation
Global Refugee Responses
EU Solidarity Measures
Refugee Sponsorship Mobilisation Platform
The Share Refugee Sponsorship Mobilisation Platform gathers a wide variety of stakeholders, including civil society organisations, cities and regions, faith communities, volunteer groups, diaspora organisations, universities, private business, philanthropy, and refugees.
Together, the platform develops strategies and joint advocacy initiatives to expand and promote different types of sponsorship programmes adapted to national contexts.
Find out more about the Mobilisation Platform’s work click on button below:
Our latest statements
The Union Resettlement Framework (URF), which has been adopted on 10th of April, has the potential to bring about a more coordinated, predictable and protection-centred approach to EU resettlement, especially for refugees in vulnerable situations. Safe routes for refugees to reach Europe are not an optional 'nice to have' - they must be an intrinsic part of a well-functioning asylum system, alongside and in addition to the right to claim territorial asylum.
As the European Parliament and Council are working to reach a compromise on two labour migration directives the Single Permit (SP) and Long Term Residence (LTR), together with the Churches throughout Europe, we would like to underline our hope for enhanced mobility and rights for third-country nationals, the prospects for efficient procedures and a broader inclusivity, which would signal a proactive stride towards reinforcing the EU's commitment to equal treatment and integration.
ICMC Europe/Share Network and over 50 civil society organisations are co-signing a joint statement calling on the European Commission to prepare a proposal for a Council Implementation Decision on the extension of the TPD until March 2025 as a matter of urgency.
ICMC Europe/Share Network and over 50 civil society organisations are co-signing a joint statement calling on the European Commission to prepare a proposal for a Council Implementation Decision on the extension of the TPD until March 2025 as a matter of urgency.
ICMC Europe/Share Network and over 50 civil society organisations are co-signing a joint statement calling on the European Commission to prepare a proposal for a Council Implementation Decision on the extension of the TPD until March 2025 as a matter of urgency.
ICMC Europe/Share Network and fifty civil society and Afghan diaspora organisations are co-signing a joint statement concerning Europe’s response to Afghans in need of protection and are urging Europe and its member states to respond appropriately and holistically to the crisis in Afghanistan.
Seven NGOs today launch a joint statement urging the EU and its member states to revive and scale up their refugee resettlement efforts, ensuring they are not rolled back or neglected as the international community shifts its focus onto the Ukraine crisis.
Ahead of the Extraordinary JHA Council Meeting on 28 March to discuss the EU’s support for people fleeing the crisis in Ukraine, Share and over 20 NGOs call on the EU and EU countries to put their commitments into practice.
ICMC Europe supports ECRE’s statement on the EU response to displacement from and within Ukraine in advance of the Justice and Home Affairs Council taking place on 3/4 March 2022.
Ahead of the EU High Level Forum on the Protection of Afghans at Risk on 7 October 2021, and as humanitarian needs in Afghanistan continue to escalate, ICMC Europe and the SHARE network join 24 NGOs in calling on the EU to put protection at the centre of its response.
As humanitarian needs in Afghanistan continue to escalate, ICMC Europe and the SHARE Network together with 23 other NGOs are appealing to the EU to place protection at the centre of its response. Ahead of the Resettlement Forum, we call on EU states to expand safe pathways for people in need of protection, including through an ambitious and additional resettlement programme for Afghan refugees and a flexible use of complementary pathways to safety.
Our latest advocacy resources and publications
The Share Network has supported and funded 10 innovative and grassroots pilot actions located in rural regions in France, Greece, Poland and Spain in 2021 and 2022. Following an external evaluation, we share the results of this successful experience and reflections on the future of integration in small and rural areas.
Share’s new policy brief builds on the research and work carried out within the Share SIRA project, which piloted place-based, innovative integration actions in small and rural areas. It provides an overview of existing EU funding mechanisms, challenges to accessing these, and advocates for improved access to funding for better integration of migrants and refugees in rural areas.
This November, our Share SIRA transnational conference in Brussels offered a unique opportunity to gather rural grassroots stakeholders from different EU Member States to discuss recent policies, research and practices on migrant and refugee integration in rural territories.
The Share Network and Entraide Pierre Valdo organised a Look & Learn visit in Notre-Dame de l’Osier and Grenoble (Isère, France) on 27 and 28 September 2022 to exchange best practices and bottom-up approaches for the reception and integration of newcomers in rural areas.
A leading example of regional engagement is the Auzolana (Basque for ‘Welcome’) pilot community sponsorship initiative that was launched in March 2019 to welcome five Syrian families in Basque municipalities: Bilbao, Arrigorriaga, Portugalete, Andoain and Vitoria-Gasteiz. The initiative is the first community sponsorship programme, organized and led by a regional government.
On the 6th of October ICMC Europe and the Share Network hosted the second of a series of meetings of its Refugee Sponsorship Mobilisation Platform. As the name indicates, this inclusive platform brings together a wide variety of stakeholders including civil society organisations, faith communities, volunteers, cities and regions, migrant-led organisations, universities, private actors and refugees - to exchange practices and develop strategies and advocacy initiatives to improve and expand community sponsorships under resettlement and complementary pathways in Europe.
Share’s new policy brief builds on the momentum of recent EU policy commitments and approaches for integration and participation in rural territories. It presents examples of inspiring participation practices and advocates for mainstreaming of participation for integration across the EU.
The Multifaith and wider community engagement in refugee sponsorship conference took place in Cologne on May 25, 2022. Organised in partnership with DiCV Caritas Cologne, it provided the opportunity for relevant multi-stakeholder actors to exchange and share best practices on broadening engagement beyond Christian faith-based groups, across different faith groups as well as secular actors.
By allowing an innovative socio-professional integration project to be set up in his municipality, Alex Brichet-Billet has not only opened the way for a comprehensive response to the refugees' search for stability in terms of housing, employment, and social integration. He has also given the chance to find employment to locals and refugees alike, doing so paving the way to lively village life.
As part of ongoing research conducted by the University of Birmingham’s Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) a study on the impact of the COVID-19 in the UK’s Community Sponsorship Scheme (CSS) concluded that with the advent of the pandemic and the introduction of social distancing and lockdown in March 2020 Community Sponsorship groups were challenged to offer alternative support to refugees in new ways.
A Share Network series featuring short portraits with our Rural Ambassadors for Inclusive Territories in France.
A Share Network series featuring short portraits with our Rural Ambassadors for Inclusive Territories in France.
A Share Network series featuring short portraits with our Rural Ambassadors for Inclusive Territories in France.
A Share Network series featuring short portraits with our Rural Ambassadors for Inclusive Territories in France.
A Share Network series featuring short portraits with our Rural Ambassadors for Inclusive Territories in France.
The SHARE Network, as partner to the CoR and a member of the Cities and Regions for Integration Initiative took part in the 9th CIVEX Commission Meeting on 28th September, 2021. ICMC Europe Director Petra Hueck highlighted the need for further multistakeholder partnerships, between regions, cities and local communities, under the horizontal priorities of the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF 2021-2027).
